Re: Copyright status of pre-WWII recordings; germ of an idea for a "Project Gramophone"

On 08/04/03 at 08:00 AM you wrote:
> I'd like to better understand the specific legal grounds regarding
> this endeavor, both U.S. copyright law, and that in other countries.

You need to hire a lawyer.

> I'm also under the understanding that Canadian and Australian
> copyright terms are different than that of U.S. copyright law, and
> that many recordings still under copyright in the U.S. have lapsed in
> Canada and Australia. Could a server be placed either in Canada or
> Australia to archive and distribute this class of works? What legal
> restrictions would those online archives be under regarding access
> from the U.S.?

Frankly, to be beyond the reach of US courts, you need to not be a resident of the US, have no attachable assets in the US and have your server hosted by a company with no contacts in the US. That might not stop US companies from trying to influence your operations. The RIAA sued the Australian company which runs the Kazaa network.

Atteempting to filter out US addresses is unkilely to satisfy US litigants. A New York resident who ran servers in Canada streaming US television content to Canadian residents was sucessfully ordered to stop
his operation.

Roy Murphy CSpice: A Mailing List for Clergy Spouses murphy@panix.com http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html Received on Mon Aug 11 2003 - 08:43:46 GMT