Florence Price - The Oak

[jemiller226]

Can someone confirm definitively that this piece is PD-US? The page is marked as such, but the manuscript is undated and I'm reading articles suggesting that she wrote the piece in 1943, which would mean it's almost certainly not public domain in the States unless, I suppose, the manuscript itself is public domain through lack of renewal. I'm admittedly a bit foggy on how that works when the piece wasn't officially published until much later and as such may never have been officially registered with the Library of Congress.

[justforplaying]

It depends on a few things for US copyright:
1. Was it registered in Catalogue of Copyright Entries as Unpublished Work? (If so, when? This applies with 2a-c)
2. If possibly published, when?
2a. If published (in any form) before or in 1963, check if it's renewed.
2b. If first published in 1964-2003, certainly this is still copyrighted.
2c. If published after 2003 (including if it's still unpublished), it's public domain in US.
In this case, it should be public domain in US as it's rediscovered in 2018 (and available for hire at 2019), and not published in her lifetime.

Assuming that this work has no performance before this rediscovery, it's likely that it's NOT public domain in Canada until 2049 due to 2022 amendment. If there are any public performance or recording before 1972, this work will be public domain.

For EU, this work is in public domain now, even with the manuscript and hire edition (as this rediscovery lands in the 70 year copyright period, thus no extra terms and expired in 2024). IMSLP however does not accept such edition due to the self-imposed 25 year rule.

For TW, assuming that this is not made public, whether it's published, publicly performed or recordings, since this work is made public in 2019, which lands right at the last 10 year frame, this work is NOT in public domain until 2030.

I hope that this gives you the proper explanation.

[Sallen112]

So I did not find any sort of registration or renewal on the work, its most likely PD in the USA as it has never been published, even after 2003. One thing about the 10 year plate rights rule for Taiwan, I was informed from our head librarian for copyright review, that we do not accept any editions that are 10 years or more under this rule. Mainly because the rule is only theoretical when it comes to Music Engravings as there has never been a Musical Engraving registered in Taiwan I guess, so we will not be accepting any editions this recent. We only will accept editions then in Taiwan published 50 years or more (or more recently if published before the 40th year after death or 50 years after death, between 40-50 years as a posthumous work after death of the composer would make this under copyright everywhere).

[jemiller226]

It depends on a few things for US copyright:
1. Was it registered in Catalogue of Copyright Entries as Unpublished Work? (If so, when? This applies with 2a-c)
2. If possibly published, when?
2a. If published (in any form) before or in 1963, check if it's renewed.
2b. If first published in 1964-2003, certainly this is still copyrighted.
2c. If published after 2003 (including if it's still unpublished), it's public domain in US.
In this case, it should be public domain in US as it's rediscovered in 2018 (and available for hire at 2019), and not published in her lifetime.

I hope that this gives you the proper explanation.

In the intervening months, I did figure this out also, but I do appreciate the confirmation and that the information is now here in case someone comes in later with a similar question.

[justforplaying]

One thing about the 10 year plate rights rule for Taiwan, I was informed from our head librarian for copyright review, that we do not accept any editions that are 10 years or more under this rule.

Just to clarify, what I said about "last 10 years" is referring to the general copyright (economic right). Therefore, even if you get the manuscript somehow or you made your edition based on the manuscript, it's still copyrighted, not because of plate right, but the posthumous works' general copyright, mentioned in latter half of Article 30, of the Copyright Act in Taiwan.