Copyrights - Public Domain - Official Performance

[raimondi]

Hello,

I need some help with legal matter.
I understand some publications are public domain and they are free to use, but how about using them in commercial venues, such as musical festivals? Is it legal (for ex. if we have some Berlioz orchestral score and parts published by Breitkopf und Haertel in 1910 and reprinted in NY in 1933 - Doesn't it makes B&H owner of the copyrights until this day?).
My concern is if it is legal to use this kind of resources, as stated above in offcial and commercial venues, and using them for commercial CD recordings? It seems cheaper to print than buy full orchestral score and parts but is it legal to use it that way? My question concerts European Union countries.
Thank you in advance for all the answeres.
R

[KGill]

It is absolutely legal. Public domain is public domain, and that means you can use it for any purposes, including commercial. No one owns the copyright on those 1910 Berlioz editions, because there isn't any. (Of course, it's always good to make sure of the copyright status in your country, but that's why we have a CR team)

[Carolus]

KGill is absolutely correct. Public domain means there are no restrictions of any type on the use of the material. As long as the work in question is public domain in your country, you are free to perform it as much as you like and charge whatever price you wish for tickets. Some countries require payment of performance fees for public domain works (to a performing rights agency like GEMA (Germany) or SACEM (France), which goes to support performances of new works.

[kalliwoda]

Oh, don't give GEMA an idea...
Fees are only for works under copyright, in addition to the rental fees or purchase price of the music itself (and make it very expensive to program copyrighted works). There are no fees for the performance of works not protected by copyright.

Actually, most information leaflets by the music publishers and performance rights societies are (I guess intentionally) very unclear about the possible use of legal copies. If you don't trust the opinions in this forum: An exception is a leaflet by Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (see here, http://staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/musik ... tzung.html - in german) that states very clearly that you can legally perform from copies if the edition is not under copyright anymore.

[Lyle Neff]

Just be sure that you understand the difference between "public domain" status on the one hand, and "Creative Commons" license on the other.