[Oe List ...] Our songs

[Jeanette Stanfield]

Dear Roseanne, 
Relative to copyright issues of ICA/OE/EI,  a global archives meeting in the
90's that Lyn Mathews Edwards led at Kemper made the decision that
everything created by all of us before 1988 were in the public domain.
After that, individuals and ICA offices etc would hold copyright.  The
Golden Pathways CD created in 1996 was based on that understanding.

I do not know if that decision was recorded officially in board minutes.

All the best,
Jeanette Stanfield


Herman Greene

> I'm not a copyright lawyer but I am going to see if I can get an answer.
> 
> Herman
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On Behalf
> Of David Dunn
> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 2:14 PM
> To: OE Community
> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Our songs
> 
> On 11/30/06 11:43 AM, Roseanne  wrote:
> 
>> Does anyone know who the songs belong to? Order, EI or ICA and do I need
> to
>> get anyone's permission to print one in my book? If I can, I want to use
> the
>> Universe Song to Three Blind Mice and part of Believe.
> 
> This is more than most of you want to know, so skip to the last paragraph if
> you want my opinion in exactly 22 words. [dd]
> 
> My bet is that no one could or should claim ownership. The lawyers will have
> to weigh in on the technical question of ownership of words and tunes that
> have been a part of our oral tradition. My hunch is that since we were not
> employees of an organization for whom we were writing lyrics, that the
> copyright of the words still, in principle, rests with the poets who wrote
> the new words. 
> 
> The tunes are a slightly different matter. With one exception that I know
> of, we never sought official permission to use tunes that had not yet
> entered the public domain, i.e., the actual musical notation that
> 'describes' the tunes. Since we seldom put the actual music down on paper
> for publication, the question of copyright is, I believe, moot.
> 
> The one exception is the songbook that Karen Bueno prepared and ICA
> informally published that contains the Fifth City Preschool songs. Karen was
> using the actual music and sought formal permissions. I honestly don't
> recall how that all shook out, but it was a small, informal project with
> limited distribution and created little if any legal exposure.
> 
> All that said, bottom line, I BELIEVE THAT IT IS PERFECTLY OK to use these
> songs from our oral tradition freely and without any anxiety about
> permissions. It might be a nice gesture to track down the author or authors
> of the words and acknowledge their creativity.
> 
> Lawyers: any amendment or further guidance? Karen, any comments?
> 
> David
> ---
> David Dunn
> 740 S Alton Way 9B
> Denver, CO 80247
> 720-221-4661
> cell: 720-314-5991
> icadunn at igc.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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