Posted by Chuck(G) on September 21, 2001 at 18:31:09:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Copying music. A Crime? posted by Steve Dedman on September 21, 2001 at 17:08:06:
My take is that it all goes to "content". If the publisher provides no original content; ie. illustrations, indicies, commentary, editing changes (including resetting the music into a more readable typeface), then copying is merely making a photocopy of a photocopy of PD material. That's why I mentioned some of the Dover Editions, which photographically reproduce the original sources. There is no way to tell the difference between, say, a copy of the Dover edition of one of the Brandenburg Concertos and a copy the original (now PD) Bach Geselschaft work. On the other hand, copying the preface or notes by Dover writers would be copying an original work under copyright and illegal.
Were Dover to go to the trouble and effort to reset the work in a more readable typeface or correct the errors in the originals, then that would comprise an original, if not derivative, work.
A more interesting question is what the legal stance would be on such a revised work that was scanned into a notation program and reproduced in printed form. The original work portion of the music is thereby stripped away...
Here's an interesting commentary on the subject of copyright; not one that I necessarily agree with: