3 ms·

It's quite interesting that he has asserted copyright over his restorations of the original content. Could I claim copyright over a public domain audio recordin

It's quite interesting that he has asserted copyright over his restorations of the original content. Could I claim copyright over a public domain audio recording from the same time period, if I reproduced it from a wax disk to an mp3? What about early software recovered from a stack of punch cards, could I decode the format, put it up as a binary, and copyright it?

zarzavat 5y ago
In the US at least, a mechanical conversion is not copyrightable. If there is a creative act e.g. colorizing an old photo by hand then that could be copyrightable.
foobarthrowaway 5y ago
> It's quite interesting that he has asserted copyright over his restorations of the original content. Derivative work is a foundation of open source software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work. You can likewise take the Linux Kernel source, make a small but significant chance to it, and claim copyright over your additions to the original content. Whether his work meets the bar for such work I don't know. Anybody can claim copyright on anything of course. Something that might be relevant is that he's not changing the work to something of his own expression so much as trying to restore it to close to the original. Seems like there could be an argument there is less creative work there. I don't mean the creative process of doing the restoration, I mean the piece of work that comes out the other end. > Could I claim copyright over a public domain audio recording from the same time period, if I reproduced it from a wax disk to an mp3? What about early software recovered from a stack of punch cards, could I decode the format, put it up as a binary, and copyright it? As the other reply said, you can (generally) only copyright original creative work.
Mindwipe 5y ago
In Europe, potentially yes. There is some precedent for a fresh (though limited) copyright in previously unpublished manuscripts for example, and it is common for museums to control the copyright for the only high quality photograph of otherwise out of copyright art works and as such charge for it.

zarzavat 5y ago

In the US at least, a mechanical conversion is not copyrightable. If there is a creative act e.g. colorizing an old photo by hand then that could be copyrightable.

foobarthrowaway 5y ago

> It's quite interesting that he has asserted copyright over his restorations of the original content. Derivative work is a foundation of open source software https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work. You can likewise take the Linux Kernel source, make a small but significant chance to it, and claim copyright over your additions to the original content. Whether his work meets the bar for such work I don't know. Anybody can claim copyright on anything of course. Something that might be relevant is that he's not changing the work to something of his own expression so much as trying to restore it to close to the original. Seems like there could be an argument there is less creative work there. I don't mean the creative process of doing the restoration, I mean the piece of work that comes out the other end. > Could I claim copyright over a public domain audio recording from the same time period, if I reproduced it from a wax disk to an mp3? What about early software recovered from a stack of punch cards, could I decode the format, put it up as a binary, and copyright it? As the other reply said, you can (generally) only copyright original creative work.

Mindwipe 5y ago

In Europe, potentially yes. There is some precedent for a fresh (though limited) copyright in previously unpublished manuscripts for example, and it is common for museums to control the copyright for the only high quality photograph of otherwise out of copyright art works and as such charge for it.