IMSLP Forums

Please note that an European Union directive is not a law, it is a compulsory guideline to single countries lawmakers; it is enforced by local laws in single countries, so its application is never immediate as each single parliament must issue an application law, and sometimes national laws get to d...

According to directive 93/98/EC, EU states can accord a protection to critical editions, but the protection cannot be longer than 30 years. So, it is quite unlikely that a 1967 edition of a public domain work is still copyrighted in Austria (unless it so extensive an arrangement to become a differen...

I am very critical of the Puccini critical editions. The standard - mostly public domain - editions were compiled under the direct control of the author, often by editors chosen with his consent. Most of the edictions were reworked several times, as Puccini was never satisfied with the very first ve...

Ricordi made a lot of money out of Verdi and Puccini when they were copyrighted. As these operas fell in public domain, they began making critical editions to renew copyright. Again, while the business of selling scores is quite thin, the real money is on performance fees and broadcasting and record...

The 20 year protection term for critical editions was estabilished in Italy in 1997: http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/testi/97154dl.htm The 20 years term was made retroactive, so it has to be applied even to critical editions published before 1997. As far as I remember, only very few Ricord...

Please note that the difference between life+50 or life+70 is not only a money problem. For a minute, try to imagine being Schubert and not being able to set to music Goethe's poems because Goethe's publisher asks you an absurd fee, or even refuses to gives you permission because he thinks Goethe's ...

A detail that almost everyone overlooked: let us say that Feldmahler, instead of pulling the plug, decided to ignore the second C&D letter. In this case, the only option for Universal would have been suing him in Canada. They cannot really sue him in Austria as an Austrian court is not competent...

UE made perfectly reasonable requests in a perfectly reasonable way and in doing so showed evidence of a willingness to discuss stuff in a cordial way. Were I in Universal shoes, I would have written such a letter: "Dear IMSLP, you are offering European residents the possibility of illegally d...

In my opinion, the request to remove files from the server could be considered as fair, as long as it does not include composition already in public domain almost everywhere. However, only a fool out of his/her mind could have signed the statement putting the value of an infringement at euro 3000 pe...

About the Dover scores: they can be found in European bookstores, even if and where they should not; there is little need to buy them from Amazon. In the past years Dover sales were very limited in Germany, but now I have seen Dovers even there - no matter who owns what. What is troubling now with D...

Well, the problem is sort of no more actual now, but I have a reply. There have been a couple of cases in Italian courts about the critical editions, but without a clear outcome. So, in a recent revision, it has been decided that a critical edition can be copyrighted in Italy, and the copyright term...

horndude77, extracting parts for a Mahler symphony would be a lot of work to do for a single person, and even for two or three persons. Also: - not all performance materials for Mahler symphonies are published by Universal; notably, 5th symphony is published by Peters; - there are serious textual pr...

mrscience, while the librarian job keeps me fairly busy, in my spare time I do organ recitals. In my next concert I will drop an UE piece for a IMSLP download of a little known public domain (19th century) work. - And, by the way, after I downloaded the piece, I ended buying anyway the original prin...

First, let me present myself; it is the first time I post here. I am an European part time performer and composer; but my main job is being the head orchestra librarian at one of Europe’s main opera and concert houses. Under this description, I have worked several times directly with Universal Editi...