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Short Story Adaptation (12 posts)

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Caleb Herring said 4 months, 1 week ago:

I’m not good with all these copyright laws. But, do you need permission to adapt a short story? And what if the author is dead?
Director, Producer, Geek, Sleeper, and Professional Slacker.
Caleb Herring.

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John P. Hess said 4 months, 1 week ago:

How long has the author been dead?

It’s safe to adapt anything that’s pre-1923.

After that it’s confusing… and now copyright covers life of author plus 70 years.

http://copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html
All my Best,
John Hess
Creative Industries Media Group | GospelJohn.net

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Caleb Herring said 4 months ago:

Okay, thanks!

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Scott Jarvie said 4 months ago:

@Gospel_John said:
How long has the author been dead?

It’s safe to adapt anything that’s pre-1923.

After that it’s confusing… and now copyright covers life of author plus 70 years.

http://copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html

Not quite, Jazz and Jazz variants (Blues) are not cleared by the 1923 date. Since this type of music was done without sheet music it was long considered to bypass the copyright law and never expire.

When they finally updated the law to include publication of the music with out without sheet music it was 70 years from the amendment, not from production. Therefore, those music pieces from the pre 20’s is protected well past the 2020’s.

Safe bets are so safe, there are loopholes riddled all over the place.
Dudley Do-Right says:
“If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!”
“Remember to always look before crossing the road.”

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John P. Hess said 4 months ago:

Interesting Caveat… though most of what people consider jazz these days came about in the 30s and on and most of the popular songs were pre-23 was published as sheet music.

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Scott Jarvie said 4 months ago:

http://ragesossscholar.blogspot.com/2009/08/most-insane-bit-of-us-copyright-law.html

Here is the article I was referring to, 2047 for many songs in the genre pre-1978. I don’t know which songs that includes (though I suspect it’s the same reason why ‘Happy Birthday’ is protected until about the same time.

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Dennis said 4 months ago:

@Scott_Jarvie said:
http://ragesossscholar.blogspot.com/2009/08/most-insane-bit-of-us-copyright-law.html

Here is the article I was referring to, 2047 for many songs in the genre pre-1978. I don’t know which songs that includes (though I suspect it’s the same reason why ‘Happy Birthday’ is protected until about the same time.

I don’t know why some people think this is a big issue. Basically they are saying just like an author may have a unpublished manuscript or screenplay its not considered published until its published by someone like a publisher, film studio, magazine, etc. This also applies to musicians and their demo records. .

This rule only applies to a very small group of recordings. It doesn’t mean every record made during those periods can’t be in the public domain.

The Happy Birthday copyright has nothing to do with this ruling (1997 Copyright Act). It’s publish date is considered to be in 1935 and the reason it is still active is because of all the extensions the studios pushed through over the years:

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/birthday.asp
Now With Half The Calories Of Regular Bullshit!

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Caleb Herring said 4 months ago:

Okay, what about plays?

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8thSamurai said 4 months ago:

Same rules. Someone wrote that before you got there.
http://digitalisdreaming.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/DigitalisVitae

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Adam Campbell said 3 months, 3 weeks ago:

Okay, yeah, I know… bad form, plugging my site right after joining.

But… I just happen to have an article about exactly this topic on my site: http://easymoviemaking.com/12/get-free-stuff-how-to-find-public-domain-material/

(This is the same site currently mentioned on filmmakerIQ’s home page – the article about writing an unsellable screenplay.)

Hope it helps.

Adam

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Adam Campbell said 3 months, 3 weeks ago:

I should add, by the way, that a lawyer/producer friend of mine confirmed everything I wrote as being accurate.

Still, don’t sue me if you get sued.

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8thSamurai said 3 months, 3 weeks ago:

@Adam – that’s a pretty good start!

I just want to add this about music – while the original sheet music may be public domain, specific recordings can still be under copyright. So Beethoven’s Ninth is public domain, but the London Symphony Orchestra’s recording is not.

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