Re: Copyright of Choreography

On Wed, 14 May 1997, David Swarbrick <david[_at_]swarb.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> writes
> >
> > On Fri, 9 May 1997, Robert Cumbow <cumbr[_at_]perkinscoie.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Terry Carroll <carroll[_at_]tjc.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > the 1989 Kate Bush song "The Sensual World" was inspired by, and
> > > > initially included as lyrics, the Molly Bloom monologue from James
> > > > Joyce's "Ulysses."
> > >
> > > The whole thing?
> >
> > I don't honestly know. I'd always assumed it was just a portion, and
> > then substantially paraphrased to fit the meter and rhyme of the song.
> > However, since Kate changed the lyrics prior to publication, we'll
> > probably never find out (although I think the copyright has since
> > lapsed; if so, and if this was a particularly pet project, Kate could
> > now reissue it with the original lyrics).
>
> Isn't James Joyce one of those who lapsed and are now back in copyright?

"Ulysses" was published in 1922, so (unless the copyright was allowed to lapse at some point, which I doubt) in the U.S. its copyright will expire at the end of this year unless the U.S. Congress approves the copyright extension legislation. There have been subsequent editions of the work, however, which could still be under copyright for a long time to come.

Joyce's earlier works (Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) should be in the public domain in the U.S. but still subject to the longer copyright term elsewhere; presumably, they'll be brought back under copyright protection in the U.S. if the longer term is approved and made retroactive here.

"Finnegans Wake" came out in 1939, and so will be under copyright for several years yet.

Thomas F. Cotter
Assistant Professor of Law
University of Florida College of Law
Gainesville, Florida 32611-7625
(352) 392-2235 (office)
(352) 392-3005 (fax)
cotter[_at_]law.ufl.edu Received on Thu May 15 1997 - 13:10:13 GMT