re: Smokey the Bear Question

Title 16 of the United States Code section 580p [no parenthesis around the "p"] declares the name and character "Smokey Bear" and "Woodsey Owl" and the associated slogan "Give a hoot, dont pollute" to be the property of the United States. The Forest Service does collect fees for the use of the characters. It is required to use the fees collected to help prevent forest fires. Regulations of the Forest Service in the department of Agriculture(36 CFR 271.3) provide that the Chief of the Service may authorize the use of Smokey Bear for non-commercial educational purposes, without charge, when such use is essentially as a public service, and will in his judgment, contribute to public information and education concerning the prevemtion of forest fires. I assume from your note that the Forest Service has an agreement with Hill and Range under title 7, and that the copyright in the song probably belongs to Hill and Range. Depending on the arrangement between the Forest Service and the publisher, you may need to get permission from both. If you write to the Forest Service for clarification, remember the name is "Smokey Bear", not "Smokey the Bear".

Jim Brennan
<jbrennan[_at_]hq.noaa.gov>

Cynthia Simmons Whisennand <cwhiz[_at_]tenet.edu> wrote:
|
| A parent visited the Smokey the Bear Museum and brought back a sheet
| she had been given there that has the words and music to the song Smokey
| the Bear. She wanted to xerox copies and give them to one class of first
| graders. It says at the bottom of the page. This song was written under
| license of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture to Hill & Range Songs., and
| recorded, under license by RCA-Victor, Columbia, Decca, Peter Pan, &
| Golden Records. Copyright 1952 by Hill & Range Songs, Inc. New York,
| N. Y. International copyright secured. All rights reserved including
| the right of public performance for profit.
|
| If the museum was giving away copies, would it be legal to make a
| copy from it? How would we go about getting permission to make copies?
| I was under the impression that Smokey the Bear was public domain.
| Any help for the confused teacher would be appreciated.
|
| Cindy Whisennand
| cwhiz[_at_]tenet.edu
Received on Wed Mar 20 1996 - 20:13:59 GMT