Amalyah:

This is a direct parallel to the very long-standing limited copyright
for 25 years in e.g. the actual typesetting of a non-copyright work.  For
example, though Shakespeare is out of copyright and in principle anyone
can produce a new edition of his works you may not photo-typeset your new
edition from another publisher's recent (less than 25 years) typesetting.
You have to either re-do the typesetting or reproduce the work from some
older edition.  That's why some recently published music scores of e.g.
19th century operas etc.issued in competition with the current "standard"
editions by the main music publishers look "antique" and have weird
translations of their libretto!

The quote you give from Flint seems to summarise the position very well: I
presume that this provision will be common to all 15 European Union
countries at the very least, as the recent UK changes (including the
important provision to extend normal copyrights from the previous 50 years
from death to 70 years from death) were EU-wide changes, but you would
need to check on this.

Also, some other countries may not recognise all of the recent changes
within their own territories (?the USA perhaps - with its much wider
interpretation of "fair dealing" - where this began).

Patrick Boylan

==============================

On Mon, 24 Nov 1997, Amalyah Keshet wrote:

> Subject: Re: Museums and the Law: Publication Right
> Newsgroups:   bit.listserv.museum-l
>
> Patrick:
>
> Regarding UK copyright law: perhaps you can enlighten us regarding the 1996
> Duration of Copyright Regulations, which apparently introduced a new right called
>
> the Publication Right. I quote from Michael Flint, Copyright in Images, Bulletin
> 66 of the Association of Art Historians:
>
> "This is of particular importance to musicians and public galleries. It gives to
> the owners of objects embodying copyright works (e.g. manuscripts, drawings,
> etc.) in which copyright has expired, the right to publish the work for a period
> of 25 years from the end of the year in which the work is first published. It is
> a right similar to copyright. Note that in order to qualify, a work must no
> longer be under copyright protection, and must have been previously
> unpublished... There is some ambiguity as to whether or not a work which has been
>
> exhibited in public is in fact "unpublished."...The better view is probably that
> the exhibition of works to the public does constitute publication from the
> viewpoint of deciding whether or not the work is unpublished for the purposes of
> publication right."
>
> Flint goes on to point out, interestingly, "Thus, if a watercolour sketch by JMW
> Turner is discovered in a museum's collection, and has never been published, the
> museum can publish it and will be the owner of the publication right in the
> sketch for 25 years..." and can thus exploit this "useful source of revenue."
>
> Are you familiar with this additional right?