Indie Filmmaker’s journal: Part Four.
Copyright investigations include looking at the work for copyright notice, author, publisher, place and date of publication, directly searching the copyright office and other records or pay to have the copyright office do a search. Well that is the start, but Copyright circular 22 says “the results may not be conclusive.” They go on to say “In many cases, it is important to consult with a copyright attorney before reaching any conclusions regarding the copyright status of a work.”
Okay. I get the picture. I need to assume there is a copyright owner and I need to find out who that is and ask them for permission. I can’t afford an attorney who is going to charge me more per hour that earn in a week. I am trying to increase the cultural destiny of my community and my world by putting work on public access TV and on my Youtube site. I have to get the permissions myself.
Often copyright investigation begins with knowing publication year, which is printed somewhere, but not always, and I will need to look at catalogs and such. Year of publication is important, especially if it is an older work. It is not always clear if the work has been renewed or if ownership has been transferred. If that were not bad enough, after March 1, 1989, a work does not need notice or renewal to copyright protected, at least 70 years.
Sources of information are on line and more available, but the search will take patience, time and maybe expense (which I don’t have). I’m advised there still will be surprises and uncertainties. I need to ask myself. How badly do I want to use the work? What are my alternatives if it is not available?
The Copyright catalog, such as it is, Google Books has made accessible, which is very nice.
Although I’ve been producing informational feature type shows for years, I’m still a rookie at performance productions. Up until this One Poem A Day project I’ve dealt with the copyright owners and got their direct permission before filming. So I think I made a rookie producer mistake by asking “the talent” (the poem reader) to help with getting copyright permissions for the work they wanted to read.
As I’ve found out, the copyright ownership and permissions may be an attorney’s wet dream, but for the rest of us it is a bordering on a nightmare. The poem readers did not have a clue and the confusion and angst was all my fault. I need to fix that. I’ve done the background research.
The rest of this journal will chronicle my search for copyright owners and obtaining permissions for readers to read their favorite poem for One Poem A Day Won’t Kill You in celebration of National Poetry Month, April, 2013.
There are a host of primarily University Library websites with great information on Copyrights, permissions, fair use.
The Stanford University
The United States Copyright Office http://www.copyright.gov/
The University of California
Columbia University http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/permissions/
The University of Maryland
And many more.
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