Macca May Live Long Enough to Get His Rights Back

The law is pretty fuckin' quirky.

As much as I know about copyright in the U.S.A., I didn't know that it was possible for rights to simply revert back to the artist after, oh, 56 years.

MACCA knows. I guess he muttered, "I'm getting my songs back from that wacko Jacko and SONY if it's the last thing I do." This, on advice from Jewish attorneys he's met through his first and current wife.

Meanwhile, Seniormole, an old prune affiliated with Deja Poo, Christer the Blister of the Swedish Meatball Society, and a streetwalker in Germany who calls herself Mephisto, have issued a statement on behalf of the U.N., the "United Nitwits."

"We don't understand this kerfuffle. We don't see why McCartney is flinging his poo. We believe that after a songwriter writes a song, it should be public domain within a year. We believe that within the first six weeks or maybe six months, the artist's album shouldn't be given away. The artist should get SOMETHING for his time. But after that, no, it belongs to the public, comrades! It should be OURS because we are entitled to freedom of speech. And while we expect social security and a pension, "royalties" are ridiculous. Let these people toil at boring jobs like we did, and make music on the side and never give up their day job. PS, our Guy Fawkes masks are stuck to our faces. We look so much better!"

Copyright is very fuckin' tricky. It differs between media. Generally a book can be copyrighted through the life of the author PLUS 70 years or so (so his heirs can loaf around and not work and protect the legacy). A movie? Maybe 80 years. A TV show? Maybe 50. Supposedly movies made around 1936 are going to be public domain soon, and TV shows made before 1966 are no longer protected. There's also some question on how long something can be copyrighted without actually being published!

We've seen The Beatles and Bob Dylan and others get around this by suddenly issuing something in a small amount just to register it. Tricky corporations find ways of renewing copyright by colorizing a new edition, striking a fresh print from the original and declaring it new, or finding a loophole like: "The movie is in public domain but the soundtrack music is still under copyright and you must pay the publisher." Which can stop maggots from issuing cheap copies in bulk.

Just before shows such as "Sgt. Bilko" or "I Love Lucy" or Groucho's "You Bet Your Life" were about to expire into public domain, copyright was magically renewed. Certainly Disney and Universal and the others know all the tricks to make sure their classics never fall into public domain. Yet, a lot of items have.

The situation in England is different of course. And our fine Commie countries like Italy and Russia have no copyright at all. BUT there's such a thing as parallel imports. You can't import illegal material. GooTube will block a video being available in a particular country due to copyright restrictions.

Still, this IS a twist. The only thing I can think of that's similar to this MACCA loophole is that when a book goes out of print, ALL rights revert back to the author. The publisher's had the right to print the book. But if the publisher is no longer printing copies (or presumably, publicizing the book or distributing copies to stores) the author can buy up the overstock and more importantly, re-print on his own or with a new publisher. Maybe even offer a revised edition.

That a songwriter can simply get his rights back after waiting so long he's more likely to be dead, is pretty peculiar.

The formality in the book world is to contact the publisher and say, "If you're not re-issuing send a release form to me." With Macca, the formality is telling SONY a legal paper will be sent demanding back the rights: "Let me roll it to you..."