On 22/10/2007, Ray Saintonge
<saintonge(a)telus.net> wrote:
Further
protected, what are they talking about? Any ideas?
No. If they are making such a claim it's up to them to provide a
basis
for it - perhaps a section of the Copyright Act.
The obvious exception that springs to mind is unpublished material -
this varies, but generally material which is posthumously published
for the first time gets a fixed copyright term (held by the
'discoverer') even if it would have been out of copyright through
being old. The exact form of protection, and how long it's protected
for, varies both on the specific material and on the local
legislation.
For example, you can say "all of Wilde's plays are out of copyright",
and be generally correct - he died 1900 - but the four-act edition of
"The Importance of Being Earnest" is still in copyright, because this
was only rediscovered and republished recently.
Determining which version of a musical work is the actually-published
old one, and which is the amended (altered, edited?) new one, can be
rather tricky for a nonspecialist.
These exceptions are always there, but they do
not justify a blanket
statement covering all of a person's works. Much also depends on the
country involved. In the absence of specific facts I can't comment on
the Wilde material. Canadian law is in transition since the end of 1998
to a strict life + 50 rule, with no additional protection for posthumous
works. Material discovered today written by a person who died before
1949 is not protected. The editor's additions would still receive
protection, but not the original material. No copyrights are attached
to discovery.
The question of musical works does have a few wrinkles that would be
difficult for a non-specialist. Musical typography may be the most
important one, but if we have adequate musical software in place we
don't need their typography. Minor changes and correction would lack
the originality required for a new copyright. This sort of question
suggests that a case by case review is needed for musical scores, and
that we should shy away from generalisations.
Ec