‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyright Settlement

Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by vanderZwan on Saturday January 27, 2018 @07:51PM (#16249008)

> In a statement, Ludlow said royalties from the song since the early 1960s had been donated to the nonprofit Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee, which created the We Shall Overcome Fund to distribute all of the royalties through grants and scholarships in black communities. It was not immediately clear how much money the fund had distributed. “Without the same scope of copyright protection, Highlander’s grants and scholarships will be deeply affected in the future,” the statement said.

Without transparency, I am leaning towards assuming there is a hefty dose of Hollywood Accounting (or whatever the name for the the music industry's equivalent is) going on[0].

> Ludlow also said uses of the song had in the past been “carefully vetted” but warned that its words and melody could now be used by advertising agencies and others “in any manner they wish, including inaccurate historical uses, commercials, parodies, spoofs and jokes, and even for political purposes by those who oppose civil rights for all Americans.”

Oh I am sure that a for-profit company "vetting" potential clients is much more reliable than the inevitability of a huge social backlash against anyone foolish enough to use this song for selfish purposes.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by ENOTTY on Saturday January 27, 2018 @09:05PM (#16249316)

CharityNavigator entry for Highlander Center: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summar...

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by IntronExon on Saturday January 27, 2018 @09:23PM (#16249387)

I went in hoping for blood, but that’s actually pretty good. Unless they’re fudging their financials in a truly criminal way, and there’s no reason to believe that, it’s a tight ship with low administrative overhead. They’re spending a bit over 70% on their programs, and not too much on admin or fundraising.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by vanderZwan on Saturday January 27, 2018 @09:48PM (#16249478)

Glad to see that the charity donated to is OK, but that is still after the royalties are donated. Hollywood accounting is not yet ruled out.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by confounded on Saturday January 27, 2018 @09:59PM (#16249511)

It's legit. There's a good documentary about it on FilmStruck at the moment. MLK and Rosa Parks were alums.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by arkades on Saturday January 27, 2018 @09:21PM (#16249380)

They seem to do reasonably well on the Transparency subsection.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by greglindahl on Saturday January 27, 2018 @08:38PM (#16249204)

Parodies, spoofs, and jokes are often fair use. It's bizarre that a copyright owner would say that.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by wutbrodo on Sunday January 28, 2018 @02:56AM (#16250339)

> It's bizarre that a copyright owner would say that.

I dunno, intellectual dishonesty from any party when it comes to this topic doesn't strike me as "bizarre" as much as "super common".

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by halestock on Saturday January 27, 2018 @08:04PM (#16249060)

Eh, I'm sure this is going to end up in a Coca-Cola commercial eventually.

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Re:‘We Shall Overcome’ Is Put in Public Domain in a Copyrigh... by duxup on Saturday January 27, 2018 @11:13PM (#16249766)

"We shall overcome our hunger for a taco dripping with cheese!"

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