drarn wrote:
>
> Quote:
> On the other hand, a license which -- for example -- (only) forces me
> to give credit to the composer, editor or publisher is free. I can
> share it with my friends and perform it for an audience.
>
> Wrong! The only rights *anyone* has is the copyright. If anything
> whatever
> is published without a proper copyright notice on the title page or on
> the first page of music *all* rights are forfeit, and anyone can use it
> or publish it or perform it or put his own name on it or even make a
> few meaningless changes and copyright it as his own without the
> author's consent or knowledge. Thus, it will not stay free. Obviously,
> if you publish an urtext edition of some Mozart, for example, the
> original
> music is not copyrighted, nor are there performance rights. But without
> a
> copyrighted title page, no credit whatever to the composer, editor or
> publisher
> or anyone else has to be be given nor can it be demanded.
> A title page is the *only* way that any kind of permissions can be
> granted, because a copyright notice is the *only* way that these rights
> can be retained.
I don't know where Dave Arnold is writing from, but what he writes is
absolutely not true in the Australian context, nor in any of the 133
countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention. It WAS true of
the United States of America, but only until 1988.
Quoting from the Australian Copyright Council's information sheet:
"The copyright notice is not necessary for protection in Australia and
in most other countries."
More detailed information is available at http://www.copyright.org.au,
although I suspect similar sites exist outlining other national
copyright laws.
Glen Prideaux
