----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Sohn" <[log in to unmask]>
> There is a big difference between Artists and
> Businesspeople, and when they interact, it is usually the
> businesspeople who get the long end of the stick.
> As far as I know, the copyright term in the US is life of
> the author +75 years.
>
This is, indeed, the length of the US copyright...on (AFAIK)
published text works (i.e. books & the like)...!
The copyright in SOUND RECORDINGS is a totally different
animal...and is/was complicated by the fact that sound recordings
WERE NOT...in fact COULD NOT BE...subject to copyright
at all...! Sound recordings were "protected" by a vast array of
state (usw.) laws forbidding the "piracy" (that is, illicit copying
and sale) of phonorecords (IIRC, only Vermont lacks/ed such
legislation...?!). Current copyright legislation concerning sound
recordings leaves them under "existing protection" until 1/1/2067,
after which only post-1972 recordings will be protected by
copyright, leaving everything else essentially p.d...!
Now...IS or IS NOT the UK copyright term on sound
recordings being extended from 50 to 95 years? Much
of the rest of the non-US world (currently including
Canada...!) uses the old 50-year term...!
Steven C. Barr
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