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27 Aug 04 - 03:45 PM (#1258425) Subject: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: dick greenhaus * This Song Belongs to You and Me By Fred von Lohmann EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney On Tuesday, EFF announced that music publisher Ludlow Music, Inc., has officially backed down from its threats against web animation studio JibJab Media Inc. over the widely circulated "This Land" animated parody lampooning President Bush and Senator Kerry. The resolution is a complete victory for JibJab, which will be entitled to continue distributing the "This Land" animation without further interference from Ludlow. Two things made this outcome possible. First, JibJab's fantastic animation is a clear fair use of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," for the reasons described in detail in EFF's initial letter to Ludlow's attorney. But also important was our other discovery: the Guthrie classic has been in the public domain since 1973. Fact #1: Guthrie wrote the song in 1940. At that time, the term of copyright was 28 years, renewable once for an additional 28 years. Under the relevant law, the copyright term for a song begins when the song is published as sheet music. (Just performing it is not enough to trigger the clock.) Fact #2: A search of Copyright Office records shows that the copyright wasn't registered until 1956, and Ludlow filed for a renewal in 1984. Fact #3: Thanks to tips provided by musicologists who heard about this story, we discovered that Guthrie published and sold the sheet music for "This Land Is Your Land" in a pamphlet in 1945. An original copy of this mimeograph was located for us by generous volunteers who visited the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. This means that the copyright in the song expired in 1973, 28 years after Guthrie published the sheet music. Ludlow's attempted renewal in 1984 was 11 years tardy, which means the classic Guthrie song is in the public domain. (I'll note that Ludlow disputes this, although I've not heard any credible explanation from them.) So Guthrie's original joins the Star-Spangled Banner, Amazing Grace, and Beethoven's Symphonies in the public domain. Come to think of it, now that "This Land Is Your Land" is in the public domain, can we make it our national anthem? That would be the most fitting ending of all. For the original version of this piece online, including links to relevant websites and documents: Official press release on the JibJab victory: "Ten Songs of Woody Guthrie," published in 1945: |
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27 Aug 04 - 07:39 PM (#1258543) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: Leadfingers Thats nice to know Dick - Thank you for that information |
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27 Aug 04 - 08:40 PM (#1258574) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: Joe Offer Dick, any idea what other Guthrie songs are in the public domain? It seems a shame that so much of his work is unavailable to us. I just picked up a copy of (The Nearly Complete Collection of) Woody Guthrie Folk Songs for twenty bucks, but it's usually more like $60. And I really doubt that it's anywhere near complete. -Joe Offer- |
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27 Aug 04 - 09:35 PM (#1258601) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: dick greenhaus Y'all know what I know about the matter. Jes' reporting. |
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27 Aug 04 - 09:41 PM (#1258605) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: McGrath of Harlow Here's the Jib-Jab movie Good stuff. |
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28 Aug 04 - 11:50 AM (#1258886) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: McGrath of Harlow Up to the top once more. I liked the way the parody hits out in both directions. Bush comes off worst, but then he is worst... |
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28 Aug 04 - 01:02 PM (#1258918) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: Tannywheeler Someone get to the lawyers. The tune for Woody's "This Land" is the tune for the earlier Carter Family's "Little Darlin'", (and maybe more before that). (cho: My Little Darlin' how I love you; How I love you none can tell. In your heart you love another, Little Darlin', pal of mine.) Hugs and kisses. Tw |
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28 Aug 04 - 07:36 PM (#1259175) Subject: RE: This Song Was Made for You and Me From: dick greenhaus Another (related) mater: Judgement was reserved on Tuesday in an urgent High Court application by Disney Enterprises to set aside an attachment order against more than 240 of its trademarks registered in South Africa. Lawyers acting for the family of musician Solomon Linda, the composer of Mbube, in July obtained an attachment order in the Pretoria High Court against the trademarks in order to sue the overseas company in a South African court. The trademarks include well-known images such as Donald Duck and Mickey and Minnie Mouse. The executors of Linda's estate are claiming R10-million in damages against Disney Enterprises and NuMetro and R6-million against David Gresham Records. Linda, a migrant worker, wrote the song Mbube in 1939. Since then it has been reworked and its title changed to Wimoweh in 1951/52 by Pete Seeger and into The Lion Sleeps Tonight in 1961. It has also surfaced in Eddie Murphy's Coming to America, sung by South Africa's Ladysmith Black Mambazo and, more recently, in Disney's blockbuster movie The Lion King. Rolling Stone magazine estimated that it has been recorded at least 150 times. Although the song has made a substantial amount over the decades, lawyers acting for the Linda family said they have only received R140 000 between 1992 and 2001 from various users. The executor of Linda's estate obtained an attachment order against Disney's locally registered trademarks to enable it to sue the corporation in South Africa. The executor claims copyright of the song had -- under a 1916 law -- reverted back to Linda's estate in 1987, 25 years after he died a pauper in 1962. He left three daughters and 10 grandchildren. Counsel for Disney, Danie Price, argued before Judge Hekkie Daniels that the executor of the estate had not been appointed properly, making everything he did on behalf of the estate null and void, including the attachment order. It was also argued that the executor should have sued one of Disney Enterprises' subsidiaries and that no case of copyright infringement had in any event been made out on the papers. The executor was also accused of not revealing all the relevant facts to the judge who granted the attachment order. Disney 'pulls all of the strings' Counsel for the executor of Linda's estate, Cedric Puckrin, argued that the executor had been correctly appointed and that Disney Enterprises, "as the party which controls everything and pulls all of the strings", was the right party to sue for damages. It was pointed out that the attachment had been obtained in order to establish jurisdiction and that the only consequences for Disney Enterprises was that it could not sell hundreds of locally registered trademarks. The executor offered that Disney could sell its trademarks in products such as Minnie Mouse after consulting with them. Puckrin argued that a prima facie case had been made out against Disney Enterprises and said they would like the action to proceed so that they could prove their cause of action. Puckrin, who reminded the judge that it was "a court of law and not Disney World", said it would be the end of the case if the attachment order was set aside and the estate would no longer have jurisdiction to sue for damages. This message was forwarded by news2mail.com. If you do not do no longer want to receive messages from this group please click on mailto:rec.music.folk-request@news2mail.com?subject=unsubscribe . For additional information see also www.news2mail.com/rec/music/folk.html . |
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16 Aug 15 - 11:50 AM (#3730730) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: Jim Carroll For those interested, I spotted a book bearing this title in a Dublin bookshop last week - it appears to be a history of the song. Didn't buy it - no room in the wheelbarrow! Jim Carroll |
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16 Aug 15 - 04:15 PM (#3730775) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: Richard Mellish It's good to know that people who sing this song aren't going to be sued for breach of copyright. HOWEVER this thread gives me a chance for another whinge. I feel very uncomfortable when an English person sings it in an English folk club and nearly everyone joins in lustily on the chorus. Do they think the American Revolution was an anomaly that will eventually be rectified, so the land concerned is really theirs? Or is this just another instance of people singing without paying any attention to the words? |
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16 Aug 15 - 05:05 PM (#3730783) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: Joe Offer I dunno, Richard - I think Woody's message is that the land belongs to the common people, wherever they are - a message that should apply all over the world. -Joe- |
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16 Aug 15 - 05:54 PM (#3730794) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: Paul Burke Come on then Mudcat: This song is your song, this song is my song, I didn't write it, it's been around long, The verse and chorus were written for us, This song belongs to you and me |
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17 Aug 15 - 02:06 AM (#3730851) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: GUEST,Gerry I roamed and rambled, and followed my footsteps To the beer-stained floors of her musty fok clubs And all around me a voice was croaking, This song belongs to you and me. |
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17 Aug 15 - 09:32 AM (#3730895) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: GUEST,M I bought a gee-tar and couldn't tune it I liked this song lots, but couldn't croon it I am quite useful when I start singing You'll know it's time to take a pee |
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17 Aug 15 - 11:52 AM (#3730909) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: John on the Sunset Coast I believe there be lyrics for a Canadian version of the song. Each country can devise its own, if the American words are problematic. |
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18 Aug 15 - 10:29 AM (#3731154) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: GUEST,# http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/foundation_gr5/blms/5-2-3g.pdf There's the Canadian version, John. |
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19 Aug 15 - 12:49 AM (#3731319) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: GUEST Now this is good to know! I'll have to learn it. |
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19 Aug 15 - 02:35 PM (#3731544) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: Richard Mellish My concern is that the original words refer very specifically to the USA, so are appropriate for citizens of that country but really not for us Brits. Adapted words concerning one's own country would be better. But, for me, it would be very hard to beat Maggie Holland's A Place Called England. |
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20 Aug 15 - 12:18 PM (#3731834) Subject: RE: This Land is Your Land - public domain From: McGrath of Harlow Singing it with Woody's words I see as expressing solidarity with the kind of people for whom he wrote it. It's a reminder that America isn't just what we mostly seem to see of it in the films and the TV. All that stupid stuff, most of which might have been crafted to make us hate and fear and despise America. (And of course I'm not talking there about stuff that criticise America. The reverse.) |