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 -- [log in to unmask] http://www.mrichter.com/