Trey Bunn wrote:
> On May 24, 2006, at 5:27 PM, Mike Richter wrote:
> 
>>
>> A variation on the theme:
>>
>> You have a recording of a work in the public domain but lack  
>> information on its origin. You want to use it, but need to  publicize 
>> it in order to find out who has the rights. That might  mean CD copies 
>> sent to the experts in the field, Internet posting  with requests to 
>> audition sent to appropriate groups, or similar  devices.
>>
>> As I understand the law (with or without the orphan-works  
>> legislation), you can't publish even to that limited extent without  a 
>> license; you can't get the license without finding the holder(s)  of 
>> rights; you can't find them without publishing.
> 
> 
> 
> However, could you use the Fair Use get-out-of-court-free card and  send 
> around a 20 or 30 second sample of the work?  A representative  sample 
> and enough metadata (even if it's made up, e.g. "Appears to be  a 
> recording from the 1940s of an elderly woman snoring through a  
> harmonica for 4 minutes, 28 seconds") could possibly turn up some  
> results, and that would seem to be within the boundaries of the law  
> (including making every effort to find the original author).

In the U.S., "fair use" is a weak reed on which to lean except in 
reviewing the work. In part due to abuses (the teacher copied a complete 
in-print book for each student), the rules have become even cloudier 
than before.

Mike
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