Optim wrote:
In the past I had this dicsussion:
Someone told me: - "Wow, your new classical music
CDs are very nice."
I said: - "Yeap.."
He said: - "Classical music is old. so there is
no copyright and I can copy and play this music
as I like. Nobody can sue me."
I said: - "No, you cannot do whatever you want.
Beethoven has no copyright rights over this work,
but the ORCHESTRA which played the work, the
COMPANY which recorded and published the work,
ETC, have rights over their work. You will be
sued NOT because you copied Beethoven's music, but
because you copied this particular
orchestra/music company's version of the music"
IANAL - I am not a lawyer
Am I right?
With the NOT inserted, you are correct. Works that are based on public
domain material can still have a copyright based on the added
contributions of their authors. The implications are significant. For
example, it effectively means that no decent-quality sound recordings
have passed into the public domain due to age, even if the recorded work
is in the public domain.
--Michael Snow