Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Michigan

Pre-1923 compositions/Public Domain

I understand compostions PUBLISHED (not written) before 1923 are public domain (note the Zimmer/Holst lawsuit on the 1916 ''Planets'' work). My client is a producer for advertising agencies. She is asking for MIDI versions of certain older compositions in the public domain. With many older works, I can find written dates via the internet but can't find ''published'' dates. What is a good source for finding if I can use a musical composition (not sheet music or recording)? I will be transcribing these works to a :30 or :60 MIDI TV or radio spots. They may or may not be exactly the same as the original. Thanks.


Asked on 10/30/06, 9:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Lawrence Graves Coolidge & Graves PLLC

Re: Pre-1923 compositions/Public Domain

Two sites have really nice free access to online music published in USA before the public domain date:

http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/index.html

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/dynaweb/sheetmusic/

If you can find a song there, then it is definitely in PD and you can do whatever you want to the original song. Be careful if an arrangement is so significant that the "derivative work" elements are separately protectable -- interesting to see the evolution of the 1930s song into Lion Sleeps Tonight....

Best wishes,

LDWG

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Answered on 10/30/06, 1:58 pm


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