Old radio show MP3s for sale on eBay - legal?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve noticed a couple of old BBC radio shows (Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son) being sold as mp3s on CD by sellers on eBay. Is this legal? Could the copyright on these programs be expired? I would like to bid on some, but don’t want to buy illegal merchandise. A related question : does eBay actively get rid of auctions that are on obviously illegal items?

2

I know of at least half a dozen web sites that sell old radio programs on MP3 CD’s (search on OTR if you’re interested), and some or all of these sites have disclaimers that say that all the programs they offer for sale are believed to be in the public domain. So yeah, I’m pretty sure this is legal.

3

Some are probably illegal, but many are probably OK. At the time that this stuff was being made (although not anymore), new works had a 28 + 28 year term of copyright. Upon registration of C, the work was protected for 28 years. Then the work was eligible for another 28 years of protection, but only if the rights were renewed by the rightsholder. Therefore, if the programs’ copyright were not renewed after the first 28 years expired, the material entered the public domain at that point. (Because more recent amendments to copyright law have lengthened the renewal term, works that were renewed after 28 years may still be protected, even if it’s been substantially more than 56 years since their original creation.)

I do not know of an easy way to determine if any particular work is in the public domain.

–Cliffy

4

IANAL. But no, not legal. The BBC is still broadcasting these and selling them on CD. You can even listen to them on the BBC’s website; Hancock’s Half Hour broadcast last week. These MP3 are probably recordings from recent BBC Radio 7 broadcasts (Heaven knows, they repeat them often enough.)

Unlikely. They’re not old enough.

Depends on what you mean by ‘actively’. If someone complains, and can prove it’s illegal they will kill the auction. But when you see the number of obviously dodgy MP3 auctions you wonder just how vigorously they are about it.

5

I didn’t notice that you specifically mentioned BBC programs in the OP. I have no idea what UK copyright law is like; my above post applies only to works made in the U.S. Sorry.

–Cliffy

6

Thanks for the info everybody. I guess I won’t bid on any of these recordings, but thanks to Futile Gesture and BBC 7, I can listen to Hancock, Steptoe and more! What a cool site!