> And I'm afraid that just because the author can't be found doesn't wipe
> away the rights of his heirs... should they exist. Tread carefully.
>
This has interesting possibilities. From a purely pragmatic view, if the
author is indeed dead, then it is probably safe to reproduce, as it will
have little circulation outside this group, so who will know it has been
done.
Not a lawyer, but I do follow the whole business. Currently, at least in the
US (remember, laws vary by country), the copyright if registered is still
valid. the term is regularly extended, in a strange way that coincides with
the expiration of the copyright on Mickey Mouse. The chances of the
expiration of this anytime soon is unlikely.
There is another possibility. There is a move on to give a free pass on
what are termed orphaned works. This is the result of the explosion of
redistrubution of movies and tv shows on dvd. Reproduction rights are
required for any music used, and securing those rights can be time
consuming. Although is is likely that there are some works that are truly
orphaned, the producers of reissues want the hurdle to be along the lines of
looking up the person's name in the local phone book and if it isn't there,
it's orphaned. Central to the other side is the musician's union, which
would like to set the bar along the lines of, we've got their number, give
us a call.
Watch the legal world for the answer.
Bill Pearce
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