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A comment on YouTube takes down the Ig Nobel show because of a 1914 recording. Parent comment

Re:YouTube takes down the Ig Nobel show because of a 1914 re... by razwall on Monday September 13, 2021 @09:31PM (#28519121)
What you say is mostly true, but in the case of sound recordings from before 1972, it's actually the opposite. At the time such recordings were made, they were subject to an infinite copyright term! The Music Modernization Act [1] passed in 2018 to put a finite life on those copyrights. As a result, all sound recordings from before 1923 become public domain this January.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Modernization_Act

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Re:YouTube takes down the Ig Nobel show because of a 1914 re... by chuckee on Monday September 13, 2021 @11:19PM (#28519821)
> they were subject to an infinite copyright term!

If so, that law was unconstitutional:

"[the United States Congress shall have power] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Clause

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Re:YouTube takes down the Ig Nobel show because of a 1914 re... by razwall on Monday September 13, 2021 @11:57PM (#28520032)
It was common law copyright, not derived from the copyright clause of the Constitution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law_copyright

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Re:YouTube takes down the Ig Nobel show because of a 1914 re... by EvanAnderson on Monday September 13, 2021 @10:14PM (#28519412)
That's why I qualified re: "federal copyright". Copyright of old sound recordings was a terrible mess for a long time.
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