LizzyA

I have spent a considerable amount of time over the last 24 hours trying to discover answers to this question, but I find that to be too short a time to demystify the entire subject for a member of the lay public . Any guidance and correction would therefore be hugely appreciated as I attempt to consolidate the little I do know and build upon that foundation! According to my best, but shaky understanding of the subject, most choreography created prior to 1923 (sometimes I have seen 1926) is usually in the public domain within the United Sates, but not always. I have not learned what those exceptions might be and why. After that year, if the choreography was recorded either through notation or through video then that marks the point of copyright registration in the US. So, I was looking at Leonid Lavrovsky's choreography for Romeo and Juliet. That work first appeared in the Kirov in 1940. However, since this was first created outside of America, I assume that we cannot take this as the starting date for any copyright in a US jurisdiction. I believe that the work was taped in the mid 1950s and therefore assume that to be the point when copyright would register for this work within the US? If copyright started in 1940, then under US copyright law it would have to have been re-registered in 1968 in order to avoid being in the public domain today. Lavrovsky died in 1967, but could have willed it to his estate. However, he may not even held rights to it and those may have belonged to the Kirov. However, since he brought it to the Bolshoi a little later, then I assume he either must have retained some rights to its use, or the Kirov transferred them to the Bolshoi? If copyright for the work began in the US in the mid '50s then the work would almost certainly fail to be in the public domain today. How works from overseas interplay with US laws is a topic I haven't resolved yet. I would dearly love for some amazing soul to establish something useful, like an electronically available list of choreographic works available within the public domain. However, having been unable to find such a thing, I assume that the only way to establish what (for works created before 1978) is owned by whom, and under what conditions can it become available to another company or individual, is to search the copyright catalog in D.C. or pay for a remote search at $165 per hour, then have a copyright attorney verify all one's assumptions from that search. Would those that know about this, say that all the above is fairly accurate, or am I entirely off course with all this? The reason I embarked on all this in the first place was because someone has asked me whether I could help them find which versions of Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night's Dream may be legally available for them to use, and they need to know soon. The list I came up with was very short, since I intuitively think (based on comments I read here and there) that Fokine and Ballet Russe productions are probably off limits too, despite falling in the 'safe' zone. But again, it is hard unearthing information on that and so I can only imagine that the Library of Congress would be the only sure way of finding that out. Thank you for bearing with me while I try to mentally sort through all this!