Topic: Paramount and Public Domain

[sandmountainslim]

Are most of the Paramount recordings in the PD?  I had assumed they all were because all are available for download on archive.org and other free and legal PD sites. 
I made myself a Paramount CD-R box set from music files on archive.org which I am enjoying very much but I had a poster on another forum tell me it was a "grey area" and I could in fact now be a pirate for creating my Paramount set for my own use. 
What's the real deal?  Is it a grey area?  Are the recordings PD?   
I did the same thing for my collection with the Collins and Harlan Edison Cylinder recordings because I figured they are SURELY in the PD and finding Collins and Harlan CD's is not an easy thing either way about.   
Educate me if you would be so kind.   Thanks.

[oddenda]

slim -

          Unfortunately, that is an unanswerable question, to be perfectly honest. Many claim, many fail - personally, if you are doing stuff for yourself and not for profit, you;re probably OK. But, one never know, do one!

pbl

[sandmountainslim]

Why is there confusion on whether it is pd or not? I know the old Victor recordings of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter family are still under copyright in the United States but not so in Europe.   Why is no one certain about the Paramount? Is it because the company went bankrupt?

[oddenda]

Slim -

          Bankruptcy isn't the main point. There are folks who claim to have purchased the rights, regardless: John Steiner for one back in the day, more recently, the late George Buck (Jazzology). The true answer is that nobody really knows what the legal state is, regardless of pd laws, etc. It's a seriously grey area that keeps everybody chattering!

pbl

[Stuart]

Copyright laws vary from country to country with respect to what's in the Public Domain. And of course, who holds the copyright to individual songs or sides is another matter. Like Peter says, it's a real murky area.