Re: Public Domain Question

[Chris Sawer]

In message <address@hidden>
          Jeremy <address@hidden> wrote:

> d> Now my question, since this Dover publication states that it is a
> d> republication of the Simrock edition published in 1882 and 1885, and
> d> this is not an edition that has altered the original publication am I
> d> free and clear to copy this score note for note into Lilypond and
> d> distribute it on http://www.mutopiaproject.org?
> 
> David -- all Dover sheet music publications are part of public domain,
> which explains why they are so cheap. They are the same editions
> you'll find distributed on those SHEET MUSIC CD that seem to have
> given birth to so many retailers.  You can go ahead with no qualms
> whatsoever.

As I understand it, that's not /quite/ correct. It is a reasonable guess to
assume that most Dover sheet music publications are reproductions of editions
which are out of copyright *in the countries in which they are sold*.

Copyright laws are different all over the world; in particular, the laws in
the USA are very different to most other countries. In the USA, everything
published before 1922 is out of copyright. However, in most of the rest of
the world, copyright exists for seventy years after the death of the creators
(and editors/arrangers) of the work.

This can lead to the slightly absurd situation where some music is out of
copyright in (for example) the EU, but not in the USA: if the composer died
between 1922 and 1933, and the music was published towards the end of his
life. This is about to happen with much of Gershwin's work, for example -
which will go out of copyright in the EU in 2007, but not for another 20
years or so in the USA. Of course, there is plenty of music published before
1922 which is out of copyright in the USA, but not in the EU and elsewhere.

When accepting music for Mutopia, we have to be as certain as possible, or
rather we rely on the person contributing it to be as certain as possible,
that the music is out of copyright throughout most of the world (ie. at least
the USA and EU, which are the two extremes of copyright law).

Dover publications cause us no end of trouble. Most of their music is *almost
certainly* out of copyright everywhere, but it's *very* difficult to check.

Firstly, some of their music isn't out of copyright (it says published with
the permission of someone). Secondly, that music which is reproduced from old
scores often has essential information removed, such as when the score was
published, or who the editor was.

Maurizio Tomasi is currently trying to talk to Dover about a score he owns, a
reproduction of a Breitkopf & Haertel score, still published by Breitkopf &
Haertel (at a much higher price), with an editor who died only in 1987. As
far as I know, he has not yet received an answer.

Back to the original question: Dvorak's music is indeed out of copyright (he
died in 1904). The Simrock edition is almost certainly out of copyright; see
if you can find out who the editor was, though.

Sorry this doesn't make things any clearer, but I hope it makes sense. It's
*extremely* frustrating to try and work out when a score is in the public
domain, but unfortunately it's very necessary.

Chris

-- 
Chris Sawer   -   address@hidden   -   Mutopia team leader
Free sheet music for all at Mutopia:  http://www.MutopiaProject.org