Post-1923 PD Scores Question

General copyright-related issues and discussions

Moderator: Copyright Reviewers

Post Reply
ben10ben10
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 8:24 pm
notabot: 42
notabot2: Human

Post-1923 PD Scores Question

Post by ben10ben10 »

While finding scores here I have noticed that there are many publications by Breitkopf & Hartel, C.F. Peters, Musyka/Muzgiz (Moscow), and others that were published after 1923. (1) Could someone please enlighten me as to how these are PD in the US? I read the public domain wiki page but it just seems to confuse me further. (2) Are these publications PD because they were published outside of the US? (3) Would the B&K scores be non-PD in Germany, where they were published? + are all Peters publications urtext editions? If so I understand why they are PD. Sorry for asking so many questions, I'm just curious. Oh one more -- so the country/region names in the table headers in the aforementioned wiki page -- (4) do they refer to the country in which a score is published or in which a score is downloaded? I think that's the center of my confusion.
Last edited by daphnis on Thu Sep 15, 2011 3:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added question numbers for quick reference in responses
daphnis
Copyright Reviewer
Posts: 1634
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 7:15 pm
notabot: 42
notabot2: Human

Re: Post-1923 PD Scores Question

Post by daphnis »

Ok, let's take these in order. I hope you won't mind that I took the liberty of adding numbers to your questions for the sake of response.

1.) For a publication to be in the public domain in the US published after 1923, one of several conditions must be met. These can include, but are not limited to: [a] The publication was never registered with the copyright office; The publication was never renewed after a number of years; [c] No renewal was filed; [d] The publication contains a faulty copyright notice.
2.) No, because regions outside the US calculate term of copyright based on date of death from "contributor", which can mean composer, editor, or poet/librettist. Not all Peters publications fall under the definition of an "Urtext".
3.) Did you mean B&H (Breitkopf & Härtel)? If so, see number 2.
4.) They refer to the country of access.
Post Reply