This was posted at the midi site, which I also put in the latest HFA thread:

Legal stuff, intellectual property, and all that ... I'd like to paraphrase the words of one of my favorite folk musicologists, U. Utah Phillips: No portion of the MIDI files listed here, nor the page text and graphics, may be reproduced in any form for the sake of profit or capital gain. Individuals and organizations who are seeking to return this music to the people who give it life and substance should feel free to use the material contained here.

Further, I wish to place all of my work under the [cc] copy-counter rights restriction proposed by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. What this means is that anyone is free to copy or redistribute this content, or freely distribute derivative works based on this content ... provided that the copies or derivative works also are copy-countered (with the [cc] symbol), and that the copies or derivative works also maintain the above link to the Berkman Center's Open Content project.

There is material on this site which is authored by other folks, and used by permission. The above does not apply to their works ... they retain all rights, so please contact them via the links provided if you are interested in using their work in any way.

THIS is copied from the site at Harvard mentioned above.

From the Berkman Center for Internet & Society:

"Copyright's Commons is a coalition devoted to promoting a vibrant public domain. It is a group of students, teachers, authors, filmmakers, archivists, publishers, and other members of the public who believe in widespread access to creative works.

"THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

"Public access to literature, art, music, and film is essential to preserving and building upon our cultural heritage. Many of the most important works of American culture have drawn upon the creative potential of the public domain. Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" is a classic example of a film that did not enjoy popular success until it entered the public domain. Other icons such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Santa Claus, and Uncle Sam grew out of public domain figures.

"PROJECTS

"Copyright's Commons seeks to invigorate the public domain through a number of projects:

"PROMOTING ACCESS TO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: The public domain grows richer as it becomes more accessible. Copyright's Commons provides links to sites that provide widespread dissemination of public domain materials.

"FIGHTING AGAINST UNLIMITED COPYRIGHTS: Last May, Copyright's Commons joined as a plaintiff in the Eldred v. Reno lawsuit challenging the recent Copyright Term Extension Act. The statute has restricted access to thousands of works that helped define twentieth century and that had been at last slated to enter the public domain.

"FINDING OPEN SPACE: Cyberspace greatly expands the boundaries -- and the creative potential -- of the public domain. In conjunction with the Berkman Center for Law and Society at Harvard Law School, Copyright's Commons seeks to insure free access to cyberspace. The "open code" and "openlaw" projects are pioneer efforts to expand the public domain into cyberspace.

"LAUNCHING A COUNTER-COPYRIGHT CAMPAIGN: By marking their works with a [cc] and a link to the Copyright's Commons website, authors invite others to use and build upon their works. A counter-copyright does not replace a copyright, but strips it of its exclusivity.

"PROVIDING A DISCUSSION SPACE: The Copyright's Commons site itself is a part of the public domain. It maintains a forum for discussions and welcomes all comments.

"Copyright's Commons maintains this website as a forum for (public domain, of course) discussions. We welcome all comments."

Their web addy is http://cyber.law.harvard.edu or click here

Chet

Movies and Musicals!
Disclaimers

The "NIEHS Kids Pages" is a government (non-profit) educational website. No commercial gains will be generated by the contents of this website. To enjoy the music at its best, we suggest you also listen to actual recordings by the original artists and other authorized sources. However, these "midi" files and lyrics are presented here as an educational tool. Sing-along pages are valuable in teaching younger children to read and in developing other skills. These songs will also introduce children to some of the beautiful music and lyrics used in a number of popular movies and musicals. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently included herein, they are considered to be available to NIEHS for use solely in a non-profit manner as an educational tool for children under the provisions of the Standards for Fair Use established in Rose-Acuff Music v. Campbell, the Copyright Disclaimer, and other provisions of our Disclaimers site. If you or someone else deserves credit for anything on this site, or if anything here should not be presented for any reason, please notify us immediately and we'll promptly take care of it!

The 'real enemies' - if there is need to put it that way - are rather the ones they represent, the copyright owners, that is. And of those especially the 'second hand' ones (as I think they could be called) who are not necessarily authors themselves, but have gained PROFITABLE cr's (of evergreens, top sellers etc) by other legal means. It is their interest - unlike us folk people - to get control over every possible way, including MC, of publishing and thus making more profit.

Unfortunately, the (international) law seems to be on their side, so far.

AKS

Another law professor, Pamela Samuelson, in an essay of which a draft can be found here, holds (if I interpret rightly) that copyright is returning to the WRONG historical roots. Copyright's origins are in censorship and repression. But since the Statute of Anne of 1709/10, copyright has been in a "second marriage" to freedom, and has been intended to be a servant of the public domain. Prof. Samuelson seems to think that copyright is in danger of returning to its first marriage, and becoming again a tool of censorship.

Don't be put off by the fact that Prof. Samuelson's draft is posted at Negativeland's web site. I was able to find out that the essay is indeed Prof. Samuelson's work (not one of Negativeland's pranks), though she didn't authorize Negativeland to post it, and that it may be published in a conventional print medium sometime in the near future. Besides, though Negativeland seem often to act as jokers, I think they tend to be serious where copyright is concerned.

T.

Maybe that could be another thing the Mudcat could eventually provide: a learning sing-a-long page with various folk songs for children and/or adults who want to learn the tune as well as the lyrics? I knwo we have that with some in the DT and this would probably be best doen just for kids to start. Think of all those little buggers learning FOLK?! It's be wonderful!

For everyone's convenience, copyright's commons can be found at:

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc

and

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/cc.html

These are two different pages, though their content overlaps some.

T.