[Rumori] pre-1972 recordings and Sonny Bono

[Nicola Battista]

Maybe this has been discussed already in the past but... basically, I
have just realized that the Sonny Bono extension also applies to most
pre-1972 recordings that didn't have a copyright at all in the USA...
this because the law sets an exception and says that everything that was
pre-1972 now has 95 years of protection starting from 1972 (i.e. public
domain in 2067).

UK a few days ago decided to confirm 50 years as a term for sound
recordings to enter public domain: early Beatles recordings will start
expiring in less than five years. This seems fair.

There are two points in the American law that could be attacked
relatively easily in my opinion:

1) it is unfair for someone who produced a recording prior to 1972 to
enjoy a longer term of protection just because this "exception" set up
the 2067 date without regard to the year in which the recording was
made. This could mean that something recorded in 1930 would last 137
years, more than 40 years longer than something recorded in 2000 (95
years of protection).

2) the exception applies to foreign recordings too: an italian recording
made in 1955 is now in the public domain in Italy or UK and I think all
of Europe. The same identical recording could be claimed as
"copyrighted" in the US since in the american territories the 95 year
term applies and in this case the year 2067 term (!) since we are
talking of a pre-1972 recording.

3) how do you consider a remastered 50+ years old recording that
originated in the US and was remastered in Europe after the 50 years
term expired, and then rereleased on cd and even exported to America?
- If you just consider the European term, the master is public domain
and anyone can reprint or remaster that without licensing the sound
recording (but probably licensing the compositions and paying for
mechanical rights)
- If you consider the Sonny Bono exception, shouldn't this be considered
as a foreign product that of course has to be "protected" for 95 years,
but it happens that the new copyright is controlled by the European
company who produced the remaster...

regarding to 2-3, please note that in Europe even major labels are
rereleasing pre-1956 recordings these days since they are "expired"
under European terms. One example is Disky, a subsidiary of EMI that
released early recordings by Elvis Presley, Little Richard and others.

I have emailed the US Copyright Office to see what they have to say
about this...
I am also cc:ing the EFF.

Nicola Battista