Talk:United States Copyright Law

Criticism / Questions / Additions

Any criticisms, questions, or proposed additions should go here. Respectfully, Emery 21:23, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Just to put this here: "Internet" is capitalized, "cannot" is a preferred form (no, it doesn't really matter which we use—as long as it's consistent), and "whether" is generally preferable to "whether or not."-- Snailey (_@/) _{Talk to Me Email me} 04:14, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

I'll be more careful of that in the future :-) Respectfully, Emery 04:26, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you sure about the "whether or not" point? ;) There are a few things that might be useful to discuss:

1. Are there any sections that should be added, clarified, or filled in more?
2. Are there any additional pages that would be useful besides the copyright cases?
3. Is the order of this page clear and logical?

Respectfully, Emery 02:41, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps

It is time to move this to somewhere more suitable. If we are to make a lot of pages like this, we can't have all of the works-in-progress sitting here, after all. Perhaps we could move it to IMSLP:Copyright Information Project/USDraft and do the same thing for other countries later (subpages)?-- Snailey (_@/) _{Talk to Me Email me} 04:31, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

I think this page will eventually be called "United States Copyright Law", and every other page will follow in a similar format. Every page that is a draft can simply be called "United States Copyright Law/Draft". Respectfully, Emery 04:58, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

It's going to bother me to have a subpage of a nonexistent page, though...-- Snailey (_@/) _{Talk to Me Email me} 05:00, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Final Additions

Hi everyone. I think this page is finally finished. I'm not sure if it's quite as good as it could be - I think I have serious organization problems - but I tried my best to create a comprehensive page. Are there any suggestions for improvement before we move this and make it available to the public? Respectfully yours, Emery 03:49, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Foreign Copyright Law

The term "foreign copyright law" is not mentioned in section 203. While the case you cite would indeed not be subject to the termination provisions, works published in the USA are also protected under foreign copyright law, which makes the usage of the term confusing to one using the site. It's really a grant made in a non-US jurisdiction - which naturally does not fall under the jurisdiction of the US law. To use an example from a composer on the site affected by all this, Leo Ornstein made some grants in the USA back in the 1970s. The assignee, General Music, licensed an arrangement in another country. If the composer's son and heir terminates the grant, the original works will revert to him, but the arrangement licensed by GMC overseas is not affected. Carolus 05:33, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

I suppose it's more clear that way. Like I said, I really don't know too much about copyright law. I just dabble from time to time :-) Thanks for the great improvement. Respectfully, Emery 05:52, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

I just thought of something else - under subsection 5 of section 203, works governed under any foreign law - including contract and inheritance laws - would likely not be eligible for termination. Essentially, it means works of non-US origin. That would also include any foreign derivatives of US works authorized under the original assignee. Carolus 06:08, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

That's the law. Respectfully, Emery 06:11, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Possible expansion (To list possible ideas)

1. History of US law (the other 3 acts prior to the 1909)
2. Copyright infringement (including common defenses seen in the court room)
3. Copyright research
4. Copyright litigation
5. Cease and desist (the formal procedures)

I think that the US legal cases should also be listed on this page. Respectfully, Emery 22:56, 20 August 2011 (UTC)