Satie copyright

[adenteuling]

I was surprised by the notice in the composer list that all works of Satie, died 1925, would be out of the public domain all over the world. Can anybody explain to me why?

[Carolus]

I'm not sure of the exact meaning of your post. Are you surprised that Satie is out of copyright? Since he died in 1925, any work of his first published before 1958 is public domain in Canada and any work first published before 1938 is public domain in the EU. There were a few works that were not published until after 1957 which are still under copyright around the world.

[adenteuling]

There is a misunderstanding probably because my English is not faultless. When I search Satie in the composers list of IMSLP a screen is shown with the message that the works of Satie are as yet under copyright restrictions. I did and do not understand this, because, just as you remark, the argument is valid both in Europe and US, that he died more than 70 years ago, and I asked whether somebody knows the particular reason for this peculiarity. In the mean time I found one remark in the French wikipedia article on Satie, where restrictions have been given on a part of his works until october 2010, but only for France.

[Carolus]

Hello again,

OK if you go to this page (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Satie%2C ... red_Leslie), you'll see there's no copyright restriction language. You might see something like "NonPD-US" on individual pages for works first published after 1922, and "NonPD-EU" on works published after 1937. Were you referring to this list (http://imslp.org/wiki/Wishlist_Q-S)? If so, the works listed as "Under Copyright Worldwide" were all first published after 1957 as far as we can tell - though there are references which give earlier publication dates for a few of the titles listed there.

We hope that you do not object to our name of "Petrucci Music Library." If you like, we can set up a link to your site in the "Other Music Score Sites" listing. Also, please feel free to post any files from your site that you wish, with links back to your site. See the composer page for Leo Ornstein (http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Ornstein%2C_Leo) for a good example of how this works.

[adenteuling]

I chequed the French and the Dutch copyright laws on the periods that copyright restrictions are valid. Both agree on the term of seventy years after the death of the author, or if the publication was made by a corporation, seventy years after the first publication. First publications of works after the elapse of the seventy years term are protected for 25 years only. So only Satie's works published for the first time after January 1st 1982 are not in the public domain. At least some of the works of Satie's in the fr.wikipedia list of "closed" works have been published in the sixties, so the problem remains unsolved. The French article claims protection for a large number of works until October 2010 (and not January 1st following after October 2010), but only in France and not in the rest of Europe.

Of course I do not object on the use of Petrucci's name, as it is in the public domain. But I would appreciate a link to my site Ottaviano Petrucci, http://home.planet.nl/~teuli049. Most of "my" sheet music is retypeset from publications older than 25 years, and some of them from facsimile's of manusripts and prints from the 16th and 17th centuries. I did not publish scans.

[Carolus]

Thanks for the post, adenteuling. IMSLP follows Canada's copyright law of course (since we are hosted in Canada). The 25-year rule you mention is usually referred to as Editio Princeps and appears to be a fairly common feature in most European copyright laws and in the EU law itself.

As I understand it, the Editio Princeps principle comes into play only if a work is first published after the normal copyright term governing the author's works has expired. In contrast, the works first published in the 70-year period following an author's death are given a full 70 year term from publication. To take Satie (d.1925) as an example, works first published between 1926 and 1995 are protected for 70 years after their publication date, while anything first published 1996 or later is protected under Editio Princeps for only 25 years after publication. Canada's law works much the same, except that the initial term is 50 years pma, while a first publication after 1976 in Satie's case is protected for 50 years after publication instead of the 25-year term found in the European Editio Princeps. For the sake of clarity and ease of understanding, I am ignoring the special provisions of copyright laws in France and some other countries that lengthen the term on the basis of the author having lived through the Great War (1914-18), etc. which apply only to their respective countries.

The US law is entirely based upon publication date for anything published before 1978. Those items first published between 1978 and 2002 are protected until 2048, while works of an author dead more than 70 years first published in 2003 and later are protectable only as an edition or other derivative work.