Thread by @kegill

Good news for #openCulture - in January, "We Shall Overcome" became public domain after a federal judge ruled the key verse could not be copyrighted for lack of originality.

hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/song-p…

#missedInRealTime #thread

The lawyers that handled that lawsuit are the same ones who brought "Happy Birthday" into #publicDomain in 2015:

apnews.com/4ef3d7182b7e44…

In 2016, the lawyers filed suit against the same music publisher over "This Land Is Your Land." Let me know if you see an updated status!
mimesislaw.com/ipflow/this-so…

Woodie's daughter claims he wrote the song and the music.
woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/This_La…

However, "according to the Carter Family, the melody came from a tune that A.P. Carter had found and recorded with Sarah and Maybelle Carter prior to 1934"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Land…

I'm in this rabbit hole because YouTube has notified me that Orchard Music, on behalf of Orange Leisure, is claiming that they can run ads on my clip of 2014 fireworks with Woody singing the song (with missing verses)

(1) I don't want any ads running on my clips.

(2) I really don't want ads running on my clips for a company claiming copyright on a song that may have been recorded in the 1940s by a man who relinquished copyright on his lyrics

(3) I damn Congress to hell and back for the copyright act extension (aka Save Mickey For Disney Act).

ORCHARD Music appears to be Sony ... there is no "about" section on the website but there is a Sony Logo

theorchard.com/distribution/

On iTunes, Orange Leisure has a Johnny Cash audio documentary
itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/oran…

30 pages of albums at Amazon (not a straightforward search)
amazon.com/s?rh=k%3A%22Or…

They do compilations.
That means they license a bunch of music.
NOT necessarily that they hold copyright.

For example, they have songs by Leadbelly.

I'm pretty certain that they don't hold the copyright on those songs - @bookido, am I right?

amzn.to/2zyPivl

I want to tell YouTube to tell Orange Leisure to go to hell because I do not believe that they hold the copyright on my EDITED VERSION of This Land Is Your Land.

MOREOVER, their licensed work does not include the forgotten verses.

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property,
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
This land was made for you and me

telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-…

Woody Guthrie wrote these words in 1939, per Wikipedia

When the sun come shining, then I was strolling
In wheat fields waving and dust clouds rolling;
The voice was chanting as the fog was lifting:
This land was made for you and me

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people
As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if
This land was made for you and me

This verse was scribbled on a sheet of paper
npr.org/2000/07/03/107…

You can hear this version of Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land on YouTube (no copyright claim, no ads, millions of views)

My audio has different lyrics but it's what's on the Woody Guthrie website

As I went walking, I saw a sign there
And on the sign (it) said No Trespassing
But on the other side it didn't say nothing —
That side was made for you and me.

These verses were discovered in 1997 by a Smithsonian archivist during a "transfer of the recording to a digital format"
npr.org/2000/07/03/107…

This 2009 discussion of Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao and Bruce Springsteen singing This Land is Your Land at the Obama pre-Inaugural concert also outlines the three verses in MY version not in the claimant's.
scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/…

My credits (and narrative explanation) say "edited" to focus on the missing verses. Where are my 2014 TimeMachine backups; need to find notes

This sounds like the beginning of mine (before the lost verse - it's a Japanese CD at archive.org )
archive.org/details/FTS310…

Side note from The Telegraph article:
"In 1950, Guthrie moved into one of Trump's most contentious properties, Beach Haven in Brooklyn." That would be TrumpTheElder. Like father, like son.

telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-…