Talk:Sound recording copyright symbol

Requested Move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the proposal was no move. Cúchullain t/ c 21:17, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Sound recording copyright symbol → Phonorecord Symbol – This page conflates two different concepts: the sound recording copyright, and phonorecords. I will rewrite it to reflect the law more accurately, and propose this renaming/move to accompany the rewrite. Mgcsinc (talk) 06:24, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * You've listed this RM on what appears to be a third page. You probably meant to list this proposal at Talk:Sound recording copyright symbol, or intended to merge Sound recording copyright symbol here. Or did you really mean to create Phonorecord Symbol with that capitalization? --BDD (talk) 17:57, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose (and undid premature move made before conclusion of this RM). The symbol denotes the copyright in the sound recording, see 17 USC 402(a); not in the phonorecord. The sound recording is the copyrighted work that represents the recorded performance. The "phonorecord" is the physical object (CD, cassette tape, whatever) that embodies the sound recording. The symbol does not pertain to the physical object (although the physical object is necessarily the medium on which it appears, obviously), it pertains to the copyrighted work, the sound recording. TJRC (talk) 19:07, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Comment. Sorry if I broke decorum by moving early -- some number of years ago, I listed a page for a move and was told to be more aggressive about it, and didn't remember that lesson until tonight. I will leave it here now until the conclusion of the discussion. In any case, the proper term for this mark -- and in fact, what distinguishes it from the normal copyright mark -- is that it attaches to phonorecords rather than copies. Hence, P in a circle rather than C. Here's the explanation from a US Copyright Office circular: "The 'C in a circle' notice is used only on 'visually perceptible' copies. Certain kinds of works, such as musical, dramatic, and literary works, may be fixed not in “copies” but by means of sound in an audiorecording. Since audiorecordings such as audiotapes and phonograph disks are 'phonorecords' and not 'copies,' the 'C in a circle' notice is not used to indicate protection of the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work that is recorded." So, when the notice is affixed to a phonorecord, regardless of the nature of the underlying work, the phonorecord symbol (P in a circle) is used. This article confuses the issues, and hence my attempt to fix it. For more information see Copyright Circular 3: . - Mgcsinc (talk) 04:42, 7 July 2012 (UTC)


 * You're really misunderstanding this material. Which would be okay, except you keep editing the article to incorporate your misunderstandings into it.


 * Start with Sections 401-402 of the US copyright Act, which you can find here: . Section 401 deals with the ordinary copyright notice, for non-sound recordings. It's largely based on a similar provision in the 1909 Act, well before US law recognized sound recordings as subject to copyright. Its notice uses the © character. Section 402 deals with notice for sound recordings. Its notice uses the ℗ symbol.


 * The "P" in the circle does not come from "phonorecord," as you have added a couple of times. As the article explains, it comes from "phonogram", which is the term used outside the United States for what we call "sound recording": the work not the physical thing. I've added a couple cites to make that more evident for you.


 * The touchstone is not the type of media it's placed on. Yes, it's true that it gets placed on phonorecords, but that is a consequence of the fact that the term "phonorecord" is the term for physical things that embody sound recordings. The subject of the notice, including the symbol, is the work, not the physical medium.


 * Nothing in the Copyright Office Circular is contrary to that. The Circular is saying the notice goes on a phonorecord, because it does: the phonorecord is the object that holds the sound recording that the notice pertains to.


 * Nimmer makes this clear, too: "After the Sound Recording Act of 1971 a special form of notice using the symbol ℗ was provided under the 1909 Act to be placed upon phonorecords, but this was only for the protection of the sound recordings not the literary and musical works embodied in such phonorecords." Nimmer on Copyright, Vol. 2, § 7.12[B]. This is contrary to your contention that the symbol covers anything on a phonorecords, whether a sound recording or not.


 * Note that the ℗ symbol is not limited to the US "phonorecords" as you suggest. The symbol was present in the Geneva Phonograms Convention as well:




 * See the GPC, Article 5 (you may need to find a print copy to see the symbol rendered correctly). No mention of "phonorecord" at all. It covers the phonogram, i.e., the sound recording. TJRC (talk) 02:00, 10 July 2012 (UTC)


 * You and I clearly read Section 402 differently. I admit that I hadn't bothered to look at what Nimmer has to say about this, but Nimmer's understanding runs directly contrary to the Copyright Office's own unambiguous position on the issue (not that it has a whole lot in the way of say in the matter): "Certain kinds of works, such as musical, dramatic, and literary works, may be fixed not in 'copies' but by means of sound in an audiorecording. Since audiorecordings such as audiotapes and phonograph disks are 'phonorecords' and not 'copies,'the 'C in a circle' notice is not used to indicate protection of the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work that is recorded." If you think that is not consistent with my understanding of the issue, then I think we just speak a different language or something. Everything I've ever known about the issue, and the only reasonable reading of the law and that Circular, says that the distinction has to do with the nature of the copy, not the underlying work. Nothing in the secondary sources you've cited here is going to convince me that the plain-English readings of those primary sources is wrong.


 * I also admit ignorance as to the international issues -- there, you may very well be right. But my understanding is that this whole regime originated in the US, where the law makes no mention of "phonograms," and where the distinction when it originated was as I've laid out.


 * All of this said, I don't have the wherewithal to deal with this, as I am in a particularly busy time in my life, so this will probably die. - Mgcsinc (talk) 02:27, 10 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Also, I'd love to see some contemporaneous-with-creation source that says the P came from the word "phonogram." The Unicode people, at the very least, agree with me: (see 2117, alt name "phonorecord symbol"). I'm pretty sure that claims that the P stands for "phonogram," at least in the U.S., are revisionist. - Mgcsinc (talk) 02:37, 10 July 2012 (UTC)


 * I've edited the article to reflect what I understand to be uncontroversial facts. I know that you think I'm ignorant on this subject, maybe even kind of an idiot, and you're unlikely to be swayed by my assertions to the contrary, but I'm not. I suggest you step back for a moment and consider whether your understanding of the history and law on this issue might be wrong (and that the secondary sources you cite might be wrong right along with you, and I will try to do the same. - Mgcsinc (talk) 03:03, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

--Relisted Mdann52 (talk) 16:37, 20 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Mdann, please understand that the article is improved and to the point by now. If there are supported claims that "P" has a certain background, it could be in a section. No one can claim a Unicode statement to be a source on its history, since Unicode (of course) only uses any history source. Now can you get to propose such a section text? -DePiep (talk) 01:40, 21 July 2012 (UTC)
 * I'm not Mdann, but the original lister. There's no basis from what I can tell for either version of this history, other than that both "sound recording copyright symbol," "phonorecord sign," and "phonograph symbol" are used for the symbol. Seeing as the symbol is a p in a circle, people might be interested in knowing that that stands for (from what I can tell, since the US invented the concept (apparently) and the US does not use the word phonograph but instead the word phonorecord) phonorecord. - Mgcsinc (talk) 02:13, 21 July 2012 (UTC)


 * See below for the excruciating detail on why you have it backward: why "phonogram" (not "phonograph") clearly preceded "phonorecord"; the error in the claim that the "US invented the concept"; and why you have it exactly backward that the reference to "phonogram" is revisionist.


 * Also, before dismissing Nimmer as a mere "secondary source," please read see Melville Nimmer and David Nimmer to see exactly whose opinions you're dismissive of; and WP:SECONDARY to understand how primary and secondary sources work on Wikipedia. TJRC (talk) 03:59, 23 July 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The "P", redux
This may be in the TL;DR category, but since it still appears to be an issue, it's worth setting this out somewhat exhaustingly and exhaustively.

There is continued confusion by an editor on the the "P" in this symbol, and why that letter is used. It stands for "phonogram," as cited in the article; it does not stand for "phonorecord", a word that did not even exist when the symbol was coined; and the symbol is not a "phonorecord symbol" (although Unicode offers that as an alternative name, along with "published" -- more on that below).

First, the history. The symbol was introduced in 1971, essentially simultaneously in both domestic US law and international treaty.

In the United States, it was added by the Sound Recording Amendment (SRA), Pub. L. No. 92-140, § 3, 85 Stat. 391, 392 (1971). This statute was enacted October 15, 1971, effective February 15, 1972. It amended the 1909 Copyright Act by adding protection for sound recordings, and, what we're interested in here, prescribing a copyright notice for sound recordings, in section 19 of the 1909 Act:


 * (c) In section 19, title 17, of the United States Code, add the following at the end of the section: "In the case of reproductions of works specified in subsection (n) of section 5 of this title ["Sound recordings"], the notice shall consist of the symbol ℗ (the letter P in a circle), the year of first publication of the sound recording, and the name of the owner of copyright in the sound recording, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner: Provided, That if the producer of the sound recording is named on the labels or containers of the reproduction, and if no other name appears in conjunction with the notice, his name shall be considered a part of the notice."

One feature of this statute is that the word phonorecord does not appear anywhere in it. The word phonorecord did not yet exist in U.S. law. What we now call "phonorecords" were called "reproductions of sound recordings." See SRA, § (a).

So, why the "P"? Simultaneously with the drafting of this statute, the United States was working with WIPO on the new treaty, the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms (a/k/a the Geneva Phonograms Convention (GPC)). That treaty provides, in Article 5:


 * If, as a condition of protecting the producers of phonograms, a Contracting State, under its domestic law, requires compliance with formalities, these shall be considered as fulfilled if all the authorized duplicates of the phonogram distributed to the public or their containers bear a notice consisting of the symbol ℗, accompanied by the year date of the first publication, placed in such manner as to give reasonable notice of claim of protection.

The treaty was completed October 29, 1971, substantially simultaneously with the enactment of the SRA two weeks earlier. As the head of the U.S. copyright office explains, "phonogram" is the legal term used in many English-speaking countries for what the U.S. calls a "sound recording." Obviously, the P in the treaty stands for "phonogram", and the "P" in the U.S. statute is chosen to meet the impending U.S. treaty obligations. But don't take my word for it:

For those of you not familiar with these sources, Nolo Press is a publisher of numerous legal references for the layman; and Craig Joyce is a highly respected copyright professor and the director of the University of Houston's Institute for Intellectual Property & Information Law. The book cited above is a widely used textbook on copyright law.

The term phonorecord was introduced four years after the symbol ℗, when it was included in the Copyright Act of 1976. The House Report that accompanied the 1976 Act, while not using "stands for" language, made very clear that the U.S. adoption of the symbol is based on the treaty's usage:


 * The symbol “℗” has also been adopted as the international symbol for the protection of sound recordings by the “Phonograms Convention” (the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms, done at Geneva October 29, 1971), to which the United States is a party.


 * House Report No. 94-1476, at 145.

(Along these lines, it would be interesting to dig up a copy of the House Report that accompanied the SRA to see if it explained the symbol. That report is House Report No. 92-487 (1971), reprinted at 1971 U.S.C.C.A.N. 1567. A copy does not appear to be online, and as an in-house attorney, I no longer have free access to Lexis or Westlaw to grab a copy without billing my employer. I will have to make a note to check this in the USCCAN next time I'm at a large library.)

So it's pretty clear that ℗ refers to phonogram, not to phonorecord. The claim that it stands for phonorecord is contrary to cited reliable sources, and also requires you to believe that the symbol was chosen to stand for a word that was not in existence until 4 years later. Contrary to User:Mgcsinc's position that the reference to "phonogram" is revisionist, it's seems pretty clear that the misunderstanding that it is a reference to "phonorecord," a term that did not exist when the symbol was introduced, is revisionist.

The symbol is generally known as the sound recording copyright symbol:
 * The sound recording copyright symbol is represented by the letter "P" enclosed in a circle. Chris Brophy, Jobs in the music industry, ISBN 9780955683954, p. 170.
 * This is a sound recording copyright symbol..., Ilene Strizver, Type Rules: The Designer's Guide to Professional Typography, ISBN 9780470542514, page 212.
 * The sound recording copyright symbol ℗ ..., Walter de Gruyter, ISBD: International Standard Bibliographic Description (Google ebook), p. 272.

For more cites, try this google book search:. In contrast, the same search for "phonorecord copyright symbol" finds only one hit: (it actually has two results, but one of the results does not actually contain the term).

This is what makes sense. The symbol is not about the physical thing it's printed on (the "phonorecord"). It is about the work that was once (the requirement was relaxed in 1978, and removed in 1989) required to obtain copyright in the sound recording (phonogram). It no more refers to the physical object than the standard copyright symbol is actually "copy symbol." (For "phonorecord" is to "sound recording" what "copy" is to ordinary copyrighted works; each refers to the physical object, as distinguished from the work that is the subject of the protection.)

With all respect to User:Mgcsinc, I understand, he is not familiar with the term "phonogram," and he is familiar with "phonorecord." But his unfamiliarity is not a basis to change the article.

Now, the Unicode Standard does provide a couple of "alternative names" for the symbol: "published" and "phonorecord sign". These appear to be the Unicode consortium's best guesses on the meaning of the symbol (obviously they are not authoritative, as they contradict one another; at least one is inherently incorrect). Those alternative names are unique to Unicode, but they should be noted in the article, in the portion on Unicode representation. And they are. But Unicode's use of the alternative names does not seem to exist outside the Unicode sphere. And for another thing, Unicode didn't even begin until 1988, and it obviously cannot purport to be the source of a 1971 legal symbol. The Unicode alternative names (both of them) should be mentioned, but ought not to be added to the lede sentence.

TJRC (talk) 19:35, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

"The symbol was introduced in 1971, essentially simultaneously in both domestic United States law and international treaty." This isn't exactly correct. The P symbol was appearing on records for at least a decade before that --194.63.116.72 (talk) 12:35, 4 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The above is correct. This was introduced in the US in 1971 but it was created and used in Europe from 1963 onwards. Snig27 (talk) 09:39, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

First Appearance
Some source in Google Books show the symbol was around since the mid 50's. JamesFox (talk) 10:00, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * It wasn't actually in use; the document you're pointing to is an early proposed draft of the 1971 Geneva Phonograms Convention. The text in the referenced source (the unenacted draft) reads "...these requirements shall be regarded as satisfied if all the copies in commerce of the phonogram bear the symbol ℗..."; the final wording in Article 5 of the treaty is "these shall be considered as fulfilled if all the authorized duplicates of the phonogram distributed to the public or their containers bear a notice consisting of the symbol ℗...". TJRC (talk) 21:00, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Aha! It seems to have first been used in the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organisations (1961), whose article 11 included similar wording as the Geneva Convention's Article 5:
 * Rome (1961):
 * If, as a condition of protecting the rights of producers of phonograms, or of performers, or both, in relation to phonograms, a Contracting State, under its domestic law, requires compliance with formalities, these shall be considered as fulfilled if all the copies in commerce of the published phonogram or their containers bear a notice consisting of the symbol ℗, accompanied by the year date of the first publication...
 * Geneva (1971):
 * If, as a condition of protecting the producers of phonograms, a Contracting State, under its domestic law, requires compliance with formalities, these shall be considered as fulfilled if all the authorized duplicates of the phonogram distributed to the public or their containers bear a notice consisting of the symbol ℗, accompanied by the year date of the first publication...
 * The text you found, since it's from the 1950s, is much more likely to have been a draft of Rome than of Geneva. (Hard to tell without access to the full document.)
 * I'll find a way to work this in. Since this shows use other than to satisfy the US's then-preference for formalities (the US was a driving force behind the Geneva convention, and modified its statute to conform, but never signed onto Rome), it's worth, I think, a separate section and some textual overhaul. Gimme some time to think on this. TJRC (talk) 21:26, 6 March 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. TJRC (talk) 23:13, 6 March 2021 (UTC)