IMSLP Forums

Carolus or someone else, if you have any free time (which I'm sure is scarce for you) could you check over my shoulder regarding the status of copyrights on Czech composer and Czech-published pieces? I understand only from the public domain page that government publications, such as those by Supraphon, are in the public domain, but I'm not sure if this is irrespective of dates, and then the matter of other publishing houses with which I'm not familiar. The composer's names that need to be checked are:

Urbanec
Vacek
Viklicky
Vomacka
Vycpálek

I think that's about it. Thanks for any help!

In 1948, all of those companies were expropriated by the Czech government and ultimately rolled into Orbis / SNKLHU /Supraphon, etc (1950 was the formal date that Orbis was established, I think. The Czech government still used the company imprints in 1948 and 1949). Before that date, they should be treated just like publications of Universal, Peters, etc. In my experience, all were very bad about publishing with correct notice, and renewing the copyright after 28 years, though heirs of individual composers sometimes did it themselves.

Editions of long-dead composers are highly unlikely to have been renewed, and probably aren't eligible for restoration under GATT in any case. Same goes for any composer dead over 70 years (died 1937 or before - like Janacek). If they published without a notice, with a defective notice - even for a single print run, or failed to renew after 28 years, they are not eligible for GATT because they're PD in the country of origin. If the composer died less than 70 years ago and it was published after 1922, regard it as protected in the US, even if it was published by the state after 1948.

I have some thoughts on Czech copyright law.

* We take Supraphon publications for Czech government publications. The law text describes the exception as follows:

an official work, such as a legal regulation, decision, public charter, publicly accessible register and the collection of its records, and also an offical draft of an official work and other preparatory official documentation including the official translation of such work, Chamber of Deputies and Senate publications, a memorial chronicle of a municipality (muncipal chronicle), a state symbol and symbol of a regional self-governing unit, and
other such works where there is public interest in their exclusion from copyright protection

English is not my native language, but is sheet music by a state company an official work, somewhat freely interpreted?

* Until when are the Supraphon publications published by the government?

Supraphon was an agency of the Czech government until 1989, I think. At some point in that period, Baerenreiter purchased the assets of Supraphon from the Czech government, at which point it became Baerenreiter Prague.

This is a very similar case to that of Muzika, and that of EMB in Hungary, PWM in Poland, and several state-owned enterprises in East Germany, notably Peters Leipzig and Breikopf Leipzig from 1949-1989. See the discussion on the other thread, where I explain the pattern I've been attempting to follow here. Perhaps we need to change it? One important question is: Does Canadian or US law (which govern IMSLP because of our server locations) regard publications of such entities as "government publications"?

Obviously, there was an exception to that doctrine carved out for composers like Shostakovich. Does this exception extend to urtext-type editions? If so, how far should it extend? The last surviving editor's lifetime plus 50 years? 50 years from publication? 25 years from publication (applying the rubric of German and UK law regarding typesets)?

Carolus wrote:This is a very similar case to that of Muzika, and that of EMB in Hungary, PWM in Poland, and several state-owned enterprises in East Germany, notably Peters Leipzig and Breikopf Leipzig from 1949-1989. See the discussion on the other thread, where I explain the pattern I've been attempting to follow here. Perhaps we need to change it? One important question is: Does Canadian or US law (which govern IMSLP because of our server locations) regard publications of such entities as "government publications"?

Actually, I think the question would be whether Czech and etc. regard the publishers as government agencies, since we are basically going with the copyright law of Czech and etc. through the Berne law of the shorter term. I think it is fine as long as the publishers are recognized as government organizations in the countries themselves I would imagine that in a real court case it'd only be necessary to prove that the publishers are considered "government publications" in Czech law.

I must admit I'm quite lost in this expert discussion.

I have a related practical case: I have some scores by Bohuslav Martinu published by Praha (including violin concerti 1 & 2, and first violin sonata) that I would be ready to upload. I know that Martinu will become PD only in 2010 in Canada, but is Praha edition still under copyright ?

Martinu falls under the same rubric we've been appplying to Shostakovich and other composers from Communist countries who died less than 50 years ago: Even though the publisher was a state agency whose publications are not normally the subject of copyright, these composers retained their own copyrights under the various treaties in force (UCC, GATT, Berne, etc.). Supraphon/CHF editions of Martinu cannot be posted at IMSLP until 1/1/2010.

Bad news, but anyway many thanks for your clear reply. Be prepared for an upload on januray 1st, 2010