'Copyright Notice:

Some recordings are from original sources, and are copyrighted under the Creative Commons License. Please click the link above to learn more about Creative Commoins Copyright. Other recordings are assumed or considered to be in the Public Domain and no rights are reserved.

Below is some basic info on the copyrights for Old Time Radio Shows. I am not a lawyer, and the information contained in this page is not meant to be legal advice. It is just intented to give you an overview of the various copyright issues involved:

Length of copyrights:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

General otr copyright info:
http://www22.brinkster.com/paradio/pages/lawj.htm
http://www.cni.org/Hforums/cni-copyright/swish.html (search for Old Radio)

OTR Sites:
http://www.old-time.com/toc.html
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/Radio/History/Old_Time_Radio/
http://www.radiospirits.com

The following are some arguements showing Old Time Radio Shows are not covered by any copyrights:

From the site at:
http://www.oldtimeradioprograms.com/copyrite.htm
"we have checked with the Library of Congress regarding the status of old time radio recordings made prior to 1978, and have been informed by their staff that all such recordings are generally in the public domain, as sound recordings were not allowed under the previous copyright law and that such recordings have not been granted copyright status under the new laws (since to change their status and move them out of the Public Domain would be a violation of Ex-Post-Facto). Once a piece is placed into the public domain for any reason, it remains there legally unless someone brings a case to the Supreme Court to decide otherwise."

From the site at:
http://www22.brinkster.com/paradio/pages/flip.htm
Library of Congress statements that the original recordings presented here are within the Public Domain, since they were NOT qualified for copyright protection when presented, nor was any attempt to place them under such copyright protection was made when the window of opportunity for such existed in 1978-1979 when the copyright law regarding such recordings changed. (Such had to be submitted to the Congressional Record for reinstatement at that time, and NO US Broadcasts from the 1929 thru 1950 period was filed for at that time in the Congressional Record - only a few foreign language audio recordings were so filed for in that period, none of which are here in our Library Collection.

Many people feel that the old time radio trademarks are abandonded since they were never enforced and are virtually worthless:http://www22.brinkster.com/paradio/pages1/abandon.htm

Any lawsuit for copyright infringement needs to be brought about by the real parties in interest (the actual copyright holder or assignee), not somebody else on their behelf. Without a federally registered copyright (which automatically would carry a presumption of validity), the burden of proof is on the person bringing the lawsuit to prove that they own a valid copyright for the work.

Registration Issues: Although failure to register a copyright does not affect its validity, a copyright must be registered before an infringement action can be filed under current federal copyright law. Registration must be made within three months after publication or before the occurrence of an infringement in order for statutory damages and attorney's fees to be available to the plaintiff. Otherwise only actual damages may be awarded (17 USC §§ 411, 412).

Radio shows created before January 1, 1978 are protected by the Copyright Act of 1909 rather than the Copyright Act of 1976 ( http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#hlc ) because according to case law any copyright determinations must be made according the copyright law as it existed before that date.

Assuming the old time radio shows were in the public domain from from the Copyright Act of 1909, the update of 1976 could not suddenly place them under copyright because they were already in the public domain, and the status of a pbulic domain work is not allowed to ever be reversed.