On Tue, 5 Aug 2003, Johan Tufvesson wrote: > On Mon, 4 Aug 2003, Diane Blaurock wrote: > > > If I understand what I've read about copyright law correctly, scholarly > > editions with critical apparatus are covered only for a period of 25 years. > > I am assuming that this pertains to the edition that I have, because the > > editor lists all of the corrections that he made. If I reset the score, > > omitting the realization of the continuo line and only giving the figured > > bass, would I be able to post my score and parts to the archive? > > I have not heard anything about those 25 years, and I presume that it > differs in different countries. I have taken the "easy" way and only > published pieces transcribed from 17- and 18th century prints and > manuscripts. > > > Or should I keep it to myself and we all pretend I never wrote this? > > And do like me? :-) > This is why I could not keep myself from commenting this. Yes, I have > transcribed exactly that sonata and kept it to myself because of copyright > questions that I did not have the energy to solve. If you do come to a > conclusion, I'm interested in hearing about it.
I'm not a lawyer, but to my understanding of the matter you must differentiate two things which are addressed by the same word "copyright" in english as far as I know: a) the right (or prohibition) to copy something printed by using a photocopying machine or something similar and b) to copy a text or sheet music or whatever from a certain author by reediting it. Obviously the former is bound to the edition and its graphical outcome, while the latter is bound to the content. The latter holds in Germany for 70 years or so. After this time, anyone is free to do with a text whatever he wants. Thus any music from before 1900 you can safely reedit (in Germany) because noone can have rights on what the music tells. However you may not scan and redistribute a modern edition of this piece. On the other hand, if you want to redistribute a scanned old source which is to be found in a certain library, you may have to pay fees to this library, because it may have rights on the "graphical part". I would be very surprised if this is substantially different in other western countries, except that the delays and fees may vary quite. regards Bernhard _______________________________________________ TeX-music mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sunsite.dk/mailman/listinfo/tex-music
