IMSLP Forums

Hi everyone. I have been looking at the International Music Company's trumpet method books and I have a question: when they make a new typesetting, or new engraving, of a public domain work, and they do not attribute an editor on the first page or anywhere else, this still belongs in the public domain in Canada, correct? I am very diligent in researching the composer dates, and the editor dates when necessary (which is tricky since many people who wrote trumpet method books are not really household names).

I am pretty confident that a new typesetting of a public domain work without an attributed editor is still public domain, but need some confirmation.

Thanks for your input!

It depends what country you are in and what their "threshold of originality" is. For example, South Africa has such a low threshold of originality that just about any work on an edition is protected, even something that in other countries would be considered "mechanical" and not worthy of copyright protection.

Most countries are a bit more literal about protecting creative content, i.e. it has to be non-mechanical. The point, though is that you have to check for the country you will be using the music in.

Ah ok, very interesting. I am pretty sure in Canada the threshold of originality is quite high, and simply retyping a work will not afford it a new copyright. I will keep digging and see if I can find an official precedent. This is a great start. Thanks again.

In most countries, this type of mechanical reproduction never passes as an original contribution. We have several pieces on this site that fit into that category. It comes down to a "sweat of the brow" approach. While it is admirable and appreciated that such companies go to the time and expense to typeset such works, it doesn't alter the intellectual content within and so can't really count as anything newly added.