The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #172489 Message #4175499
Posted By: Pappy Fiddle
25-Jun-23 - 10:59 PM
Thread Name: The case for and against Ed Sheeran
Subject: RE: The case for and against Ed Sheeran
I have a question. It might seem dense or something, but I've dug around, even asked a lawyer, and still haven't got the answer.
I seem to remember that Bill Clinton signed into law the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which increased the length of a copyright from 21 to 42 years. And yet I can't find this number anywhere other than my memory.
In 2008, Paul McCartney started performing his own song, "And I Love Her" in concerts, first released in 1966. I imagine his lawyers told him he couldn't sing it before that for money. Because the copyright belonged to the Beatles' record company, who sold it to someone, who sold it to someone else, and eventually it wound up in Sony's portifolio, or Michael Jackson's. Anyway, I surmise that since 42 years after 1966 is 2008, the copyright had expired.