Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by razwall 1735 days ago
What you say is mostly true, but in the case of sound recordings from before 1972, it's actually the opposite. At the time such recordings were made, they were subject to an infinite copyright term! The Music Modernization Act [1] passed in 2018 to put a finite life on those copyrights. As a result, all sound recordings from before 1923 become public domain this January.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Modernization_Act
2 comments
chuckee 1735 days ago
> they were subject to an infinite copyright term!

If so, that law was unconstitutional:

"[the United States Congress shall have power] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause

link
razwall 1735 days ago
It was common law copyright, not derived from the copyright clause of the Constitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law_copyright

link
EvanAnderson 1735 days ago
That's why I qualified re: "federal copyright". Copyright of old sound recordings was a terrible mess for a long time.
link