Wow, you put a lot of time into that comment… very interesting. I wrote a post awhile back called “Go ahead sue me for humming…royalty free minds for everyone”… Copyright is a big issue today and the boundaries of yesterday are easily overun by the technologies of today. In my post I imagine a time when the biological imprints of our “minds” can be considered a replicaiton of copyrighted media… it’s pretty funny but, not too far fetched!

I’ve been studying copyright law for a few years now (as it pertains to musicians) and I’m continually stunned by what is happening in the courts and how it’s played out in the media. James Frankel has an amazing handle on copyright and his posts on copyright or copywrong are eye-opening. I’ve said it be for and I’ll say it again, I’m all for musicians making money on their works… but, I’m also for a slighlty more liberal and 21st century interpretation of “fair-use”. If I ever get my “95 theses” of that interpretation formulated and clarified in my mind… I’ll be sure to post them…nails and all. So, I guess… In the end, the love we take is equal to the love we make… WAIT! is that line copyrighted?…nobody hum or sing that previous line!
Thanks for your great comment.

-J. Pisano

First read the wikipedia history of the song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Across_The_Universe
Then watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H71Fv3PcQQY the Rufus Wainright version of the tune,
then see the Fiona Apple version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IKnpJpP9eM.
then the Henson/Muppets version from Labyrinth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-NqRsQlVk
then Laibach’s Hitler Youth version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q5mlb3Bjzs

So in terms of multimedia, Geffen, Apple, McCartney and Ono own the lyrics and the song, but what about the references to Magritte in the Wainright version? What about the references to “Clockwork Orange” in the Fiona Apple version? Bowie as Vampire? Reifenstahl’s photo-style in the Laibach version?

Seems to me that we are going to have to re-think a lot of things, because the pieces of the pie keep getting smaller and smaller. I cannot help but wonder how many copyright holders there are to the Wainright version (from the movie).

Or maybe we should just be thankful that there are enough revolutionary spirits out there to preserve these tidbits of culture so we can all see them on YouTube. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO4RfVeOyRQ

So, copyright law is the law of the land…today…but what about http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/acrossuniverse.asx
Did the tax payer pay for that?

Just stirring things up, like Paul would have encouraged us to.

elderbob