Re: [ARSCLIST] [was ARSCLIST] When you die...

["Schooley, John" <John.Schooley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm curious...what's to stop a site like this from moving overseas to
another country NOT subject to the Sonny Bono Act?  

On the IMSLP site, there is a mention of moving to a server in Canada.
Could similar sites offering audio files move to Europe or the Cayman
Islands (or places previously reserved for tax-dodges and unscrupulous
accounting practices and suchlike)?  I know this is popular with p2p
file-sharing sites, and perhaps that is the future of recorded sound
archives as well.  A copyright-dodge rather than a tax dodge.

I'm sure all on this list have friends who make the majority of their
income selling American recordings to collectors in foreign countries.
The material seems to be more valued overseas than at home, so perhaps
it is fitting that the archives be established overseas as well where
they are not subject to our draconian copyright laws. Given the number
of foreign re-issue labels that have traditionally dealt with American
recordings that have languished in the hands of the domestic rights
holders, I can't see how this can be far behind.  

Sadly it reminds me a bit of that Etruscan chariot in the Met.  Only
things have reversed and American cultural treasures are now being
exported to Europe...

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Karl Miller
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 9:01 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] [was ARSCLIST] When you die...

"Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    ***What I'm
trying to avoid (this may be obvious) is to sell one of
my CD-R-based discs to a hapless senior-citizen lady in West Oskosh
Heights...and then have the RIAA, accompanied by law- enforcement
officers of various sorts, drag both the hapless purchaser and myself
into a Wisconsin-located courtroom to face a list of copright-violation
offenses as long as a 1969 Buick Electra 225...?!
   
  An interesting case in point...The International Music Score Library
Project...from their web site:
  " On Saturday October 13, 2007, I received a second Cease and Desist
letter from Universal Edition. At first I thought this letter would be
similar in content to the first Cease and Desist letter I received in
August. However, after lengthy discussions with very knowledgeable
lawyers and supporters, I became painfully aware of the fact that I, a
normal college student, has neither the energy nor the money necessary
to deal with this issue in any other way than to agree with the cease
and desist, and take down the entire site. I cannot apologize enough to
all IMSLP contributors, who have done so much for IMSLP in the last two
years."

Basically, what happened, as far as I know, was that the site offered
scanned versions of public domain music. Well, some of it was not PD in
the US, hence the cease and desist letter. 
  
***It is also interesting to note that in things literary, a book will
remain under copyright for the length of the applicable copyright term
applying in the country where it was originally written...but apparently
a sound recording's copyright status depends on the term applicable in
the country where same was manufactured (otherwise the rest of the world
would have to wait until 1/1/2067 (subject to further extension...?!) to
hear the "greatest hits of the Peerless Quartette"...?!

  I am not sure I understand what you have written. For example, I
believe that a recording issued in the US in 1950 is PD for much of the
world. However, if a recording was issued in France in 1950, it is not
PD in the US. It is my understanding that this is a reflection of the
terms of the Gatt treaty. 
   
  I have many discs and tapes of performances from the French
Broadcasting System. These recordings are PD in France, but I cannot
issue them in the US. 
   
  As we have often discussed on this list, due to the economics and
legalities involved in making copyrighted material of marginal interest
(the costs to issue are likely to exceed the income from sales), those
of us in the US are deprived of information that is PD in most of the
rest of the world. Again, it is that difficult juggling act which is
endemic to a free market society, namely the rights of the individual
versus the right to make a buck. As I type this, I am reminded of the
often used phrase that the US is the richest nation, however,
unfortunately that "richness" does not necessarily apply to the access
of information.
   
  Karl