After 50 years - is Chuck Berry material now free to copy?

The release of various CD sets containing Chuck Berry's complete recordings of the 1950s and their sale at very low prices makes one wonder about the legal situation of these recordings.
In this blog article I try to explain the relevant copyright portions as far as I understand those. I am NOT an expert on copyrights, so what you read here may be completely wrong and subject to legal discussions. Thus feel free to comment or send an email if you find this text need corrections or additions!

Lets try to sort out some definitions first: we are talking about COPY-RIGHTS, i.e. the right to copy something. The basic rule in almost all circumstances is that the creator of a work of art is the only one who owns the right to create copies of his or her work. In most cases of commercially replicated art, the creator of the work has transferred the right to copy to an agency, a publisher or the like. Depending on the contract, this transfer of rights might be temporary, might cover certain editions or geographical regions only, or might be permanent. In any case the owner of the copyright (remember: the right to copy) might be someone different than the creator of the work. [Note: In the U.S. it had been necessary to officially register a copyright for it to become legally effective. This was often done by other parties such as a publisher. In Europe and most other countries the simple act of creating something automatically entitled the creator to the exclusive right to copy - as it is in the U.S. now as well.]

The creator of a work of art might also waive his right to copy by putting the work into the public domain. In this case the work of art is allowed to be copied freely. The creator might still have several rights which they retain. Thus they might still claim authorship, request their name to be listed, or request the work to be unchanged.

All copyrights expire. Thus after a certain amount of time every work of art becomes part of the public domain and is allowed to be freely copied. The period of time a work is protected against unwanted copying depends on the type of work and on the applicable laws. Due to this it often depends on the source country and on the country the copy is created in.

Looking at Chuck Berry's recordings, we see that there are three different kinds of art we have to consider:

• The lyrics: The author of a song's lyrics just like any other poet becomes the primary copyright holder to the song text. In most countries, the author's copyright expires 50 or 70 years after his death. Thus in view of Chuck Berry, his song lyrics might be protected for a looong time in your country. In the U.S., lyrics written before 1978 were protected only for a mere 28 years after publication unless the copyright was renewed and extended to 95 years after publication. I don't know if the copyright to Chuck Berry's lyrics was registered in the first place and renewed within 28 years. If you know, tell me!
• The music: The creator of a musical composition is the primary copyright holder to the music. Copyright rules for melodies are the same as copyright rules for lyrics. Since in most cases Chuck Berry was both the writer of a song's lyrics and the composer of the song's melody, the same applies as before.
• The recording: The artist, in view of video recordings also often the producer, becomes the primary copyright holder to the sound recording. A recording is a work of art by itself. In legalese this is a derivative work. Copyright to sound recordings does not expire the same way as copyright to lyrics and melody. Instead in most countries the copyright to sound recordings expires 50 years after publication. However, in the U.S. sound recordings have not been considered copyright-able until 1972. Instead, sound recordings are protected by state law until 2067.

In respect to the various CD releases of Chuck Berry's 1950s recordings in Europe and in the UK, we can summarize: As a composer and writer, Chuck Berry or whoever he sold the copyright to (Chess, BMI, or their local agents) still is entitled to royalties. As a recording artist, his 1950s recordings are in the public domain, though - at least in the UK and at least those which have been published in the UK at least 50 years ago.