Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

Some of rock's greatest riffs may be up for grab

(1/1)

wraith808:
...because copyright laws are stupid.



Do you know what a deposit copy is?  I never knew until I read this article on Bloomberg.  from the article

<snip...> “deposit copy,” as it’s called, is a spare document handwritten by a record company scribe who listened to the record and then distilled it into only 124 notes of piano music. The reverse engineering was required to comply with U.S. law, which before 1978 allowed songs to be registered only via sheet music “deposited” in Washington.

--- End quote ---

The first pages of the deposit copies of some songs you may know. Note the spareness; the courts are working out whether song elements that aren’t shown are copyright protected.PHOTO: COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Let that sit for a second.  That spare amount for Stairway to Heaven, for example, doesn't include the most recognized portions of the song.

“You would agree that there’s no solo on the deposit copy … of Stairway to Heaven, which was deposited with the office?”

“Yeah, we—I agree with that. It’s not in there, no,” Page said.

Malofiy then pointed to the first measure. On the record, Stairway begins with a finger-picked introduction—one of the most recognizable musical passages of the past half-century, mimicked by millions of aspiring guitarists. That iconic intro, Malofiy said, “That’s not represented in the deposit copy?”

“No,” Page said. “You’re correct.”

--- End quote ---

That's just... mind-blowing.

more at https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2019-classic-rock-riffs-loophole/

mouser:
Interesting!

nickodemos:
Interesting but it seems that there should be a simple legal way to amend this. IE resubmit the copyrights in their entirety, and the actual holder/creator gets first rights to copyright them within a certain time frame.

wraith808:
Interesting but it seems that there should be a simple legal way to amend this. IE resubmit the copyrights in their entirety, and the actual holder/creator gets first rights to copyright them within a certain time frame.
-nickodemos (June 24, 2019, 10:45 AM)
--- End quote ---

Nothing with IP/Copyright is ever simple, and I'm sure that someone would make it more difficult to push through.

Navigation

[0] Message Index