David W. Fenton wrote:
On 25 Jul 2006 at 9:52, Noel Stoutenburg wrote:
WRT Johannes's comments relating to whether or not microfilm images of
material may be copyrighted, I suspect that this is very much
jurisdictionally dependent. My recollection (which may be in error)
is that in the U.S., the relevant case law is that microfilm images
do not contain sufficient new editorial content to meet the standard,
and microfilm images are generally not provided with any copyright
apart from any copyright which might still subsist in the original.
The situation may very well be different in Germany than in the U.S.
But libraries may not be restricting microfilm copying on the basis
of a publisher's copyright, but on the basis of the copyright in the
unpublished MSS represented by the microfilms. NYPL would not let me
make copies of microfilms from Berlin of Schumann's 1840 book of
Lieder -- I had to do all my work at the microfilm reader.
Of course, the question now occurs to me: would the MSS in the Saur
microfilm still count as unpublished once the microfilm has been
published? In they NYPL case, the film had been acquired directly
from the library that owned it, so it's really not published. In the
case of the archive Kim was dealing with, that's quite different.
Of course, at this point it's all conjecture, but I wonder if the
circumstances of "publishing" would be taken into account. The making
of a microfilm which costs $3200 isn't the same as making a performable
printed version.
But in any case, the owner of a never published manuscript retains all
the rights to that manuscript as if it had been a work for hire,
including the right to register the copyright for 95 years. At least as
far as I've read. If the works were published in the composer's
lifetime, however, that aspect of things doesn't apply.
So if these works were never published, then the copyright rests with
the library which owns the manuscripts, and perhaps the microfilm is so
expensive because of the licensing fee that Saur has to pay the library
for each copy of the microfilm sold.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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