French copyright question

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chanterensemble
Posts: 2
Joined: 02 Feb 2009 10:22

French copyright question

Post by chanterensemble »

Dear CPDL
I have just found out about you! :)
I have been singing in a choir here in the Dordogne, France, for 16 years and they made me president a couple of years ago (mad, these French!).
There has been much worry the past couple of years about copyright and fellow British singers have told me about this site. I have had a look around the site, and it appears all the sheet music is ok to use freely in the USA...
My question is, what is the legal position for FRANCE?
Can anyone confirm we really are ok to use it here?
choralia
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Posts: 2926
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 19:57
Location: Rome, Italy
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Re: French copyright question

Post by choralia »

I think that the legal position about copyright is quite obvious: scores obtained through CPDL should be used legally, in compliance with local regulations. Even though the copyright section at CPDL is subject to being revised shortly, I'm pretty sure that a general policy existed since the beginning of CPDL, and will remain in the future: CPDL does not endorse and strongly deprecates any illegal use of scores, including, but not limited to, violation of applicable copyright laws in any country of the world.

Most scores hosted at CPDL can be used legally in most European countries, without requiring permission from other parties. Use of some scores may require permission from the copyright holder, depending on the specific country and/or on the specific use foreseen. There is not a general rule about compliance to local regulations that applies to all scores, to all countries, and to all possible uses. In the case of doubt, users should obtain advice from an attorney who is engaged in the local practice of intellectual property law. Providing legal copyright advice to users is out of the scope of CPDL.

If you like, you may submit a specific case (e.g., CPDL edition number and use foreseen for it) to the section "Music Request and Questions", that also includes discussions about copyright issues. Other CPDL users may provide their opinion about your specific case. However, please consider that such opinions are just opinions of other users like you: they cannot replace the legal advice that you may obtain from a qualified attorney in your country.

Max
carlos
Site Admin
Posts: 1870
Joined: 19 Aug 2008 15:26
Location: São Paulo, Brasil

Re: French copyright question

Post by carlos »

Hi chanter ensemble, the answer to your question depends on the work in question, as Max suggests. The most problematic cases are for 20th century composers: if they published something in the U.S. before 1923, it will be in the Public Domain there, but possibly not yet in Europe (depending on the composer's year of death plus an average 70 years). The example given in this other topic may also be of interest for you:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4061

This page is also very informative, but deals with U.S. law only:

http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/
chanterensemble
Posts: 2
Joined: 02 Feb 2009 10:22

Re: French copyright question

Post by chanterensemble »

Thanks both to choralia and to carlos for your swift answers to my question. I was so excited to see all the huge lists of scores freely available on this site! What I now need to find out is whether France is one of those "death plus 70 years" countries. For this I will try to contact the "authorities" over here - unless some other kind and well-informed soul can tell me! This ruling, if applicable, will give considerable importance to the date of death of the composer, when we look at choosing what works to perform.
choralia
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Posts: 2926
Joined: 05 Mar 2006 19:57
Location: Rome, Italy
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Re: French copyright question

Post by choralia »

I would suggest to read this wikipedia article: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_d%27auteur.

If I correctly remember, France is aligned to the other European countries about the 70-year principle, however post-war time extension may increase the term up to about 14 years in certain cases.

Max
Robert Urmann
Posts: 19
Joined: 10 Jan 2009 01:40
Location: Leipzig, Germany

Re: French copyright question

Post by Robert Urmann »

For France, the SACEM should be a good address: http://www.sacem.fr/

Robert
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