Catbert10

Rhapsody in Blue will enter into the public domain in 2020. Will this effect UA’s branding at all?

narvik

Yes, they will save a bunch of money when using it!

ContinentalFan

They’ll change the time signature and truncate those wasteful rests, so they can pack the notes closer together. It will ultimately become a dissonant hum.

dilanesp

Rhapsody in Blue as a copyrighted song is different than as a trademark. United has amassed enormous secondary meaning and can still prevent competitors from using it.

ProfessorChaos

Interesting question, assuming a competitor would actually want to use the same song. The Supreme Court has ruled that you can’t use trademark to protect attribution for uncopyrighted material, on the theory that uncopyrighted material should be free of all restrictions once the copyright expires. That reasoning could cast doubt on whether you can lock up use of a public domain song by trademark, but is it any different than locking up a (uncopyrightable) word or color that has attained secondary meaning?

A similar issue will arise when the original copyrights on Mickey Mouse expire soon.

dilanesp

The law is actually clear.

You can't use trademark law to RESTRICT THE DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLIC PERFORMANCE of a copyrighted work that goes into the public domain. So United can't prohibit the pianist at the Flagship Lounge from playing "Rhapsody in Blue", or demand a royalty. (They never could, actually, because they didn't own the copyright. But in your Mickey Mouse example, Disney could prohibit a competitor from making a Mickey Mouse cartoon. After the character enters the public domain, they can't, at least as to the original form of the character.)

But when using a public domain song AS A DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN OF YOUR GOODS AND SERVICES, it doesn't matter if it is copyrighted or uncopyrighted. Disney will continue to be able to, for instance, sue any film studio which adopts round cartoon mouse ears as its trademark. That has nothing to with the copyrightability of Mickey Mouse. And United can sue any airline that uses "Rhapsody in Blue" as a branding of their airline.

ProfessorChaos

Mind directing me to the cases, if this has been clearly decided? It would be useful for my class.

Thanks!

mahasamatman

I wouldn't be too sure that will ever happen. Disney has been very successful in warping copyright law to extend their copyrights well beyond what the original laws intended (aka The Mickey Mouse Protection Act).

dilanesp

The politics have changed in the past 20 years.

dilanesp

This Ars Technica article explains the difference between the Dastar case and using Mickey Mouse as branding:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...blic-domain/2/

And this article sets out some of the leading cases:

https://lucentem.com/2018/12/05/disn...his-copyright/

OhDoctor

In all fairness, there is not always a direct relationship between the merits of a case and whether or not a corporation can/will sue over the issue.

dilanesp

They could sue and win if another airline uses it as branding.

Many, many trademarks are in the public domain in terms of copyright. You can of course tell consumers you offer the "best buy" in town, but you can't brand your electronics store as "Best Buy".

DCA writer

Whether another airline would want to be confused with United is... outside the scope of this thread.

One point of clarification: Copyright expired today on the original sheet music for Rhapsody, but not the orchestrations of it. The scoring for a full orchestra dates to 1942. And now that I think about it, I can't remember how many instruments figure in United's version.

Trying to look that up did, however, lead me to this 1987 piece from the Washington Post's TV critic about United licensing Rhapsody for the first time, which he found somewhat scandalous.

dilanesp

That's right. You can perform or record the Paul Whiteman jazz band version. The orchestral arrangement, if it contains any original elements, is a separate copyright.

PTahCha

In looking up the topic, United has the option to register a soundmark that associates the song Rhapsody in Blue with the airline. Here's a list of examples: https://www.uspto.gov/trademark/soun...-mark-examples

Interestingly, Southwest registered the intercom chime + "You are now free to move about the country".


+1. A song entering public domain means that any performer may use it without pay a royalty or requesting permission.

However, the specific orchestration United uses, which is performed by LSO, is still copyrighted.