from the creativity-canceled dept
There’s a terrific deal that is absurd about copyright regulation in America, however its most simple absurdity stays the size of time for which the copyright monopoly applies. The size of copyright safety a piece will get is dependent upon quite a few elements. Was the work printed earlier than or after 1978? Was it renewed, if the previous? Was it printed anonymously or by a named particular person? Was it work for rent? The reply to all of those affect the time period size of copyright for a person work. Preserve that preamble in thoughts as we undergo the remainder of this dialog.
Fanin County Excessive College in northern Georgia had scheduled a two day, two play manufacturing of The Crucible, the famed play by Arthur Miller which tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials as an allegory for McCarthyism. The college canceled the second day’s manufacturing, nevertheless, because of what it said is a copyright issue.
In an announcement launched by the highschool, Principal Dr. Scott Ramsey and different college leaders stated they’d “obtained a number of complaints as to an unauthorized change within the script of the play.”
Whereas the adjustments themselves weren’t detailed, and Channel 2 Motion Information has reached out for extra info, college officers stated the copyright violation from their license of the play made their choice for them.
“Upon investigation, we realized that the efficiency didn’t mirror the unique script. These alterations weren’t authorised by the licensing firm or administration. The efficiency contract for The Crucible doesn’t enable modifications with out prior written approval. Failing to comply with the correct licensing approval course of for additions led to a breach in our contract with the play’s writer,” college officers stated. “The infraction resulted in an automated termination of the licensing settlement. The second efficiency of The Crucible couldn’t happen as a result of we have been now not lined by a copyright settlement.”
Sadly some key particulars listed below are hidden behind the college’s imprecise statements. What have been the adjustments? That appears essential, as it will be good to know simply how substantial these adjustments have been. Who found the adjustments and raised the alarm over the licensing? Was a member of the licensor actually within the viewers through the first efficiency and blew the whistle? Did the college do that proactively, indicating some type of chilling impact?
Whereas these are all legitimate questions, let’s actually take a step again to get a way of how absurd that is. A faculty made apparently some materials efficiency adjustments to a play and that violated its licensing settlement such that performances would then violate the play’s copyright. A play, thoughts you, that was first printed in 1953 and the writer for which died in 2005. So, in a world the place The Crucible is 72 years previous, 23 years from its copyright expiration, and the creator useless for twenty years… a gaggle of highschool youngsters can’t placed on the play they labored so laborious to arrange for due to imprecise adjustments to the efficiency?
In what world would we name that copyright sanity?
Filed Beneath: arthur miller, copyright, fanin county high school, georgia, remix, the crucible
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