Re: old music score question

On 11/24/98, Beverly Stafford <beverlyst[_at_]nethost.multnomah.lib.or.us> wrote:
>
> I have a question pertaining to music scores: our library has a score
> published in 1868, a Liszt transcription of an operatic piece. It is,
> as you might guess, falling apart and brittle. Can we photocopy this
> score and use the photocopy to circulate rather than the original?
> It is out of print and I haven't found it in any other collection.

1868? No problem. In the U.S., the maximum duration of copyright for works first published before 1978 is now 95 years. Anything published in 1902 or earlier is clearly in the public domain. You can make as many photocopies as you like.

[In fact, most of those contributing to the list seem to be of the opinion that anything published in 1922 or earlier is also fair game, because it fell into the public domain before the "effective date" of the recent term extension act.]

Even if it was published in 1968, you'd still be O.K. Under sec. 108, it is not an infringement for a public library or archives to make a single copy of a work under certain conditions: not for purpose of commercial advantage; copy includes copyright notice; and copy is made "solely for the purpose of replacement of a copy... that is damaged, deteriorating, lost, or stolen, if the library or achives has, after a reasonable effort, determined that an unused replacement cannot be obtained at a fair price."

Finally, a copyright question with an unambiguous answer. :-)

Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
<tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> Received on Wed Nov 25 1998 - 18:46:25 GMT