What is the copyright on Nursery rhymes and songs? at DVinfo.net

David Delaney · August 26th, 2007, 09:07 AM

I was watching Barney the other day over at a friend's house that has little ones, and I got to thinking about the copyright over these songs : what is the deal? Are the songs over 50 years old copyright free?
What about the actual nursery rhyme consider they are probably easily over 100 years old for some of them...?

Bill Davis · August 26th, 2007, 02:10 PM

Copyright is always going to be a case by case basis.

And remember, it's not just the "song" that may be protected - a performance, a recording, the songwriting, the arranging, there are a LOT of creative sub-parts to a particular performance that may be protected as well.

One good resource I've used over the years is BZ Rights and Permissions in NYC. They publish a directory with a lot of information on what "familiar" works are (or are not) still under copyright.

(Surprised me to discover that "Happy Birthday" is a copyright protected work! which is one reason why so many chain restaurants subject us to their own "CUSTOM" happy birthday annoyance!)

That's where I'd start to backtrack rights to a nursery rhyme.

The only way to be SAFE when using something you didn't totally create yourself is to talk to an appropriate professional who knows the law involved.

Glenn Chan · August 26th, 2007, 02:51 PM

The stickied thread: Fair use copyright law: The Comic Book!
should answer some of your questions.

Jim Andrada · August 27th, 2007, 12:42 AM

Interestingly enough (as I understand it) Happy Birthday is copyight protected, but "Good morning dear teacher" isn't.

The only difference is the length of the second note (the "py" of Happy)

In Happy Birthday it's a dotted eighth followed by a 16th note, in "Good morning..." it's two eighth notes.

In other words "ha--- Py" qs opposed to "ha-py-"

We always used arrangement of Good Morning Dear Teacher and just had everybody play the first lote long and the second note short - works fine.

August 26th, 2007, 09:07 AM	#1
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	What is the copyright on Nursery rhymes and songs? I was watching Barney the other day over at a friend's house that has little ones, and I got to thinking about the copyright over these songs : what is the deal? Are the songs over 50 years old copyright free? What about the actual nursery rhyme consider they are probably easily over 100 years old for some of them...?

August 26th, 2007, 02:10 PM	#2
Bill Davis Trustee Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Posts: 1,538	Copyright is always going to be a case by case basis. And remember, it's not just the "song" that may be protected - a performance, a recording, the songwriting, the arranging, there are a LOT of creative sub-parts to a particular performance that may be protected as well. One good resource I've used over the years is BZ Rights and Permissions in NYC. They publish a directory with a lot of information on what "familiar" works are (or are not) still under copyright. (Surprised me to discover that "Happy Birthday" is a copyright protected work! which is one reason why so many chain restaurants subject us to their own "CUSTOM" happy birthday annoyance!) That's where I'd start to backtrack rights to a nursery rhyme. The only way to be SAFE when using something you didn't totally create yourself is to talk to an appropriate professional who knows the law involved.

August 26th, 2007, 02:51 PM	#3
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The stickied thread: Fair use copyright law: The Comic Book! should answer some of your questions.

August 27th, 2007, 12:42 AM	#4
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Interestingly enough (as I understand it) Happy Birthday is copyight protected, but "Good morning dear teacher" isn't. The only difference is the length of the second note (the "py" of Happy) In Happy Birthday it's a dotted eighth followed by a 16th note, in "Good morning..." it's two eighth notes. In other words "ha--- Py" qs opposed to "ha-py-" We always used arrangement of Good Morning Dear Teacher and just had everybody play the first lote long and the second note short - works fine.