Historical Recording; Who has copyright?

[Gezellig]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee, recording made in Florida

I was just over 3 miles away from Apollo 11 when it lifted off for the moon on July 16, 1969. A lot of people had still cameras, and a few had silent 8mm movie cameras. I had a “toy” 3 inch reel to reel tape recorder. I place it on top of our car, and recorded from about 2 minutes before the launch until about 5 minutes after. On the tape you hear commentary on the car radio from some local radio personalities covering the launch. You can also hear the PA speakers set up for the spectators to listen to Jack King, “The Voice of Apollo”. Most of what he says in unintelligible; but in the background it sets the mood. (A transcript of his commentary is available online, so you do know what he is saying at any given point in time). You hear some of the crowd reaction to the launch and aftermath. Of course, when the sound of the rocket hits, that is all you can hear for a while. It actually makes an extraordinary documentation of what it was like to view the launch in person.

I had misplaced the tape for around 20 years, and came across it a few months ago. I took it to an audio archivist, who digitalized the tape. It still needs reconstructive work, such as removal of the 60 cycle hum on the tape and fixing defects, but it is in very good shape. My question is, do the individuals who appear coming over the radio, or the radio station who broadcast it, have any copyright rights here? The station does not have a copy of the original broadcast, and it is possible that they might have had to claim copyright at the time of broadcast under the pre-1978 rules. The date of taping is known, and it is past the May 1969 date where it appears that the rules changed. Or would such a tape appear under the performance rules?

I have not given the copy to anyone, as it seems that if I let it out of my hands it would soon appear on YouTube. I figure I might use it as an exclusive feature to offer on the speaker’s circuit when the 50th anniversary comes around, and that afterward some museum might be interested in it as it really conveys the experience of watching the launch unlike anything else I have seen. After that it should probably be released to the public for its historical relevance. I also want the radio station to have a copy. However, do they have copyright claims here that could restrict how I use/release it? I have been making a transcript of the radio commentary part of the tape that is audible; what is the copyright status of that (especially if it includes the few words you can hear from the crowd)? I don’t think what I have would be considered a compilation, but it was set up to capture the sounds of an historical event, and the commentary coming over the car radio was part of that event.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee, recording made in Florida

I was just over 3 miles away from Apollo 11 when it lifted off for the moon on July 16, 1969. A lot of people had still cameras, and a few had silent 8mm movie cameras. I had a �toy� 3 inch reel to reel tape recorder. I place it on top of our car, and recorded from about 2 minutes before the launch until about 5 minutes after. On the tape you hear commentary on the car radio from some local radio personalities covering the launch. You can also hear the PA speakers set up for the spectators to listen to Jack King, �The Voice of Apollo�. Most of what he says in unintelligible; but in the background it sets the mood. (A transcript of his commentary is available online, so you do know what he is saying at any given point in time). You hear some of the crowd reaction to the launch and aftermath. Of course, when the sound of the rocket hits, that is all you can hear for a while. It actually makes an extraordinary documentation of what it was like to view the launch in person.

I had misplaced the tape for around 20 years, and came across it a few months ago. I took it to an audio archivist, who digitalized the tape. It still needs reconstructive work, such as removal of the 60 cycle hum on the tape and fixing defects, but it is in very good shape. My question is, do the individuals who appear coming over the radio, or the radio station who broadcast it, have any copyright rights here? The station does not have a copy of the original broadcast, and it is possible that they might have had to claim copyright at the time of broadcast under the pre-1978 rules. The date of taping is known, and it is past the May 1969 date where it appears that the rules changed. Or would such a tape appear under the performance rules?

I have not given the copy to anyone, as it seems that if I let it out of my hands it would soon appear on YouTube. I figure I might use it as an exclusive feature to offer on the speaker�s circuit when the 50th anniversary comes around, and that afterward some museum might be interested in it as it really conveys the experience of watching the launch unlike anything else I have seen. After that it should probably be released to the public for its historical relevance. I also want the radio station to have a copy. However, do they have copyright claims here that could restrict how I use/release it? I have been making a transcript of the radio commentary part of the tape that is audible; what is the copyright status of that (especially if it includes the few words you can hear from the crowd)? I don�t think what I have would be considered a compilation, but it was set up to capture the sounds of an historical event, and the commentary coming over the car radio was part of that event.

You own the copyright in your recording. The sounds from the spectators are not copyrightable so you have no problem with that.

Jack King worked for NASA as Director of Public Information and, under Section 105 of the Copyright Act, works produced by the US government are in the public domain (http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/17/1/105). That said, NASA is governed not by the Copyright Act's Section 105 but by the Code of Federal Regulations and, for that reason, it is possible that King could have obtained a copyright in anything he might have scripted prior to broadcast. For information on the Code of Federal Regulations, Patents, Data and Copyrights, here is a link to the relevant section: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/regs/1827.html

However, the Apollo launch was broadcast live and I do not believe any of what King said during the launch was scripted, although transcripts were made later of what he said and those have been copyrighted. As an additional note, a lot of the early NASA footage and television transmissions and recordings were accidentally erased, including the moon landing recordings.

The part of your recording that could potentially cause you the most difficulty would be the radio broadcasts by the local radio personalities, if the radio broadcast was scripted, the broadcast recording was preserved and the copyright in them renewed (although you indicate that it wasn't).

But, and finally, the Supreme Court of the U.S. has stated that "copying a news broadcast may have a stronger claim to fair use than copying a motion picture" (see Sony Corp v Universal City Studios, 464 US 417, 1984), so I would think that your recording would not infringe unfairly on anyone's copyrights, especially if the broadcasts heard on your recording are incidental to the recording as a whole and only portions of the broadcasts are intelligible.

You can have your recording reviewed by an IP attorney in your area for a personal assessment, however, and that might be smart to do.

It is nice that you were able to capture that historic moment on tape.