---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Klaus Graf <klausgraf(a)googlemail.com> Date: Oct 21, 2007 2:06 PM Subject: [Foundation-l] Implications of IMSLP case To: foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Franz Liszt writes in his Myspace weblog: "A great blow has been dealt against the world of music and of our common cultural heritage. The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) was a wonderful site for sharing public domain music scores. They had an encyclopaedic collection of scores which anyone could download as a .pdf file. The site was entirely free and run by people dedicated to the art of music. Unfortunately the music publishers Universal Edition has threatened the site's creator with legal action if he does not "cease and desist" the site's activities. This has now happened. UE's threats appear to be based on rather spurious copyright grounds. The intention is not to protect artists' rights, but to stop people from accessing public domain materials. Most artists have struggled terribly in life and die broke and young. Having ignored the artists during their lifetimes, publishers are then able to exploit their genius posthumously. Take poor old Franz Schubert, for instance. UE's legal threat is a direct attack on our common musical heritage as well as on culture in general. I believe that these public domain works should be freely available to the public. For the most part, IMSLP made available sores by all the greats (including my humble self), most of whom have been long dead and are out of copyright. There is a current trend for all our common cultural heritage to be "privatized" and exploited by private corporations for the sole purpose of making money. The idea that the works of Shakespeare, Beethoven and Leonardo da Vinci (et al) should "belong" to anyone except the people of this planet (and beyond) is outrageous. Sadly, this trend is not restricted only to great works of art. Ancient buildings, national parks, libraries, museums, images of works art, and many aspects of our cultural heritage are all being devoured by private corporations in order to fuel the interests of a small minority of greedy individuals. Be that as it may, I do urge you to go to the IMSLP forum, register. learn the facts and offer support (if only by adding your voice). This is important because this is about freedom, our common cutural heritage - and about music! [...] The address is http://imslpforums.org " Source: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=1136841… The cease and desist letter mentions EU-protected composers but also composers like Gustav Mahler who is dead since 1911. There are two questions: First: Can WMF help to re-activate IMSLP by hosting e.g. Wikiscore (or so)? It is already possible to uload PD scores on Wikimedia Commons. See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sheet_music Second: Are there implications for WMF copyright policies? The CaD-letter mentions the fact that "that under Canadian law a judgement rendered in Europe is enforceable in Canada". If a Canadian user uploads works on Commons from an US server like Internet Archive (pre-1923-rule) which are PD in Canada (50 y pma) then this is allowed by the (inappropriate) rule of Commons. I have to quote the rule: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Interaction_of_United_S… "If material that has been saved from a third-party website is uploaded to Commons, the copyright laws of the US, the country of residence of the uploader, and the country of location of the webservers of the website apply." It clearly lacks the COUNTRY OF ORIGIN in this (inappropriate) rule. If this country is a EU country the 70 year pma rule is in effect. Take a Bela Bartok score published before 1923 (or 1909). Bartok died in 1945, his works are protected in all EU countries until December 31, 2015. The score is PD in the US and Canada but the Canadian uploader can be sued by a Canadian lawyer because the work is not free in Europe. WMF cannot be sued for an US court in this case because the work is PD in the US. But should'nt we protect the uploader when he is uploading according our rules? Klaus Graf _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l