Public domain database
p2p news / p2pnet: Access Copyright and Creative Commons Canada will build a free, globally searchable online database of published works that have entered the public domain and which are therefor no longer bound by copyright law.
The non-profit project will start with comprehensive registry of works and will expand to include the published works of creators from other countries,
There’s currently no one place where information about the public domain is collected, say the two organizations in a statement, going on:
“The project will develop in two stages – first, a comprehensive registry of works by Canadian creators that are in the public domain will be established.
“Eventually, the reach of the registry will expand to include the published works of creators from other countries. The public domain registry will be a non-profit project and freely accessible to the public online.”
The backbone will be Access Copyright’s Rights Management System, the largest database of copyright information in Canada.
The Wikimedia Foundation will supply software that will allow the public to contribute information to the registry. Individuals will be able to use the registry to determine whether a published work is in the public domain and, “The registry will also link to digital versions of the work, and provide information about where a paper copy of the work can be purchased,” say Access Copyright and Creative Commons Canada.
Also See:
statement – Access Copyright and Creative Commons Canada Announce Public Domain Registry, March 3, 2006
March 5th, 2006 at 3:20 am
Fantastic, I can’t wait! Thanks
March 5th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
I applaud the gesture.
Surely there is a need for music users (radio/home/record companies/theaters…..) TO KNOW what music can be used freely and which music can be used only with authorization from the copyright owner.
By “TO KNOW” I mean in an easy manner. If to copy a song at home to a CD to give to a friend or to allow the singing of a song in a restaurant when requested by a patron (at midnight), there is a need to have a law degree or access to a difficult to use, interpret or improperly maintained or an incomplete database, then the “TO KNOW” will not work.
Surely some cleanup of copyright claims must first be made. The American National anthem is registerd in ASCAP by over 200 different individuals and music publishers, even though the song is in the public domain. Almost all the Latin American national anthems are registered with BMI. These are copyright claims that are made because it is very easy to claim the ownership of public domain works. All you need to do is take an old work, make a cosmetic change and claim the ownership of the new cosmetic version of the work. If you then hide the original, then the only access to the work is to the new cosmetic version of the work. This is why almost avery new edition of works by Shakespeare, Chopin, Beethoven are copyright claimed. A kind of legal theft.
As anyone who looks into the use of public domain music on the radio should know, radio stations are licensed to use the catalog of the so called collective societies (ASCAP/BMI/…) but this is a sham. A secret of the radio industry. The collective’s catalogs are not published and are basically useless to the radio stations. A question is will a public domain catalog suffer a better fate or will it be as useless as are the catalogs of the collectives?
If licensed radio stations and restaurants and other venues do not use at all the catalog they are licensed to use, why expect them to use a catalog of public domain works?
Will a public domain database be used by anyone?
Again, I applaud the gesture, but please do all the necessary homework to understand the problem with using public domain works.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
March 6th, 2006 at 4:31 am
I think this is a great idea. I’ve tried to do something similar here in the U.S…..unfortunately I don’t get to do as much work on it as I’d like.
http://www.pdmdb.org – The Public Domain Movie Database
http://www.pdmedia.org – Public Domain Media
March 7th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
From: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060306/dcm046.html?.v=35
Recording Artists Say Music Stations Would be Silenced Without Copyright Protection
Monday March 6, 1:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON, March 6 /PRNewswire/ — Music stations would be silenced if copyright protection didn’t exist, say Grammy Award winner John Legend and other top recording artists.
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According to the above (totally distorted) news story, public domain music does not exist.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com