Re: A bottomless pit of plagiarism

On 6/16/2025 5:58 AM, Gary McGath wrote:

On 6/15/25 4:17 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
 

>
[Hal Heydt]
Alternatively, if the story wasn't originally copyrighted in the
US, the US may not have recognized the validity of the copyright.
See, for instance, the reason for the premier of the G&S oparetta
_The Pirates of Penzance_.

 Gilbert and Sullivan solved that problem, after losing a lot of potential royalties, by filing for copyright in the US. To do this, they had to put on a US production of the operas they wanted to protect.
 Tangentially related, but I just happen to have posted a blog article on it this morning, which I wrote a few days ago: For most of the 18th century, printed music was considered uncopyrightable in Great Britain. Johann Christian Bach, the son of Johann Sebastian Bach who had moved to London, filed a lawsuit against a publisher that established in 1777 that it was copyrightable.
 https://garymcgath.com/wp/when-music-became-copyrightable/

What other creative categories have no IP protection?
IIRC, neither clothing styles nor culinary recipes have any
protection. You can knock off the shape and material of a
Louis Vuitton handbag, but you'll be in trouble if you include
the 'LV' pattern, which is a trademark.
pt