need help with two hymn..copyright

Subject: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 01:47 PM

i have googled and gone to harry fox...i think at least one is copyrighted..but would appreciate further input from people more knowledgeable than myself.

motherless child
farther along

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 03:37 PM

Farther Along, appears to be in the public domain. Wikipedia article here.

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Jeri
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 03:39 PM

...but the Wikipedia article says the copyright: "The song was copyrighted in 1937, as part of the Starlit Crown collection,[1] and was renewed in 1965. It is often erroneously thought of as a folk hymn or as being in the Public Domain."

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 04:23 PM

motherless child- which one?

"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is a traditional spiritual, in the public domain.
Some singers may have added their own verses, but the old versions are PD.

"Farther Along"- the first copyright seems to be 1937 although it was written earlier. See copyright rules (on line); 1937 date seems valid).

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 04:50 PM

that would be 77 years...is it usually 75 years now?

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Jim McLean
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 05:13 PM

Here in the Uk copyright exists 70 years after the composer/author's death.

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Apr 14 - 07:34 PM

USA rules different. See previous threads.
http://www.copyright.gov

"The Provisions of copyright law dealing with duration are complex." Quotation from beginning of Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright.

Subject: RE: need help with two hymn..copyright
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Apr 14 - 03:34 AM

In general, here's the US rule: It's in the public domain if it was published in 1923 or earlier. Due to the Sonny Bono Copyright Act of 1998, songs published after 1923 will enter the public domain long after we're dead.

-Joe-