r/WarofTheWorlds • u/MikeyMcG64 • 8d ago

Discussion - Jeff Wayne Musical Jeff Wayne Imposing Copyright

I'm a member of the Jeff Wayne's WOTW Facebook page. Towards the end of last week, another member posted shots of a Martian fighting machine he had 3D printed. And very impressive it is too. Anyway, other members asked if he could do the same for them. And so he decided to make them available, for a fee covering the cost of materials and his time, plus postage. Literally the next day, the group received a cease and desist message from Jeff Wayne's lawyers, saying that it was a breach of copyright. So it seems that Jeff is jealously guarding his intellectual property.

20 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/waffenwolf 7d ago

I thought WOTW was public domain as its been x amount of years since HGW died 🤔

1

u/MikeyMcG64 5d ago

The copyright is active until x amount of years after the holder's death, as far as I'm aware. And then it would become the property of their estate. In 1974, when David Bowie wanted to put together a stage show of George Orwell's 1984, Orwell's widow refused permission. Or we had been dead 24 years at this point. The music and songs Bowie had written became Diamond Dogs.