Jon Noring wrote:
Steve wrote:
Your proposal is very fascinating and your tact is
remarkable. =)
Well, my reply may have been a little too harsh. Ray did bring up
valid points that needed addressing. The whole area of the copyright
of pre-1972 U.S. sound recordings is one big tangled can of worms. So
it is difficult to write something brief which completely untangles
everything to everyone's satisfaction. I'm not sure if anyone, outside
of a few top IP attorneys who are interested in the Public Domain,
such as Larry Lessig, really have a good grasp of the various nuances
(including state laws) regarding pre-1972 sound recordings.
I've just read through the decision on "Capitol vs. Naxos". I find
the
reading tortuous, but I think I understand what they are getting at.
Depending on State common law implies that a different result could be
had with a judicious choice of state. The bulk of thes cases invoking
common law appear to be a part of the original 13. It would be
particularly interesting to see how this plays in Louisiana which did
not have a background of English common law. The legislation in
response to "La Cienaga vs. ZZ Top" would have the effect of restoring
common law protection, but it's unclear what would happen when the state
had no applicable provisions.
So if the person with access to $100 million is
interested in the
pre-1942 sound recordings, we have a team of experts with good
connections in various places that can be leveraged to help out with
the acquisition, cataloging, digitization, archiving and distribution
of the collection.
From a Wikimedia perspective sound recordings are still only a small
part of the material that needs to be freed. Any portion of the $100
million applied to these recordings should be in proportion to the
overall distribution of Wikimedian interests. While it is clear that
our organizations have a common interest in freeing material from
copyright, I would question the appropriateness of turning over any
significant portion of these funds to another organization for the
furtherance of its objetives.
Ec