#DGuknow that Tom Lehrer's lyrics are now all in the public domain?
The songwriter Tom Lehrer recently posted on his website that "all the lyrics on this website, whether published or unpublished, copyrighted or uncopyrighted, may be downloaded and used in any manner. whatsoever, without requiring any further permission from me or payment to me or to anyone else."
The Dramatists Guild supports a robust public domain, especially when it is the explicit wish of a writer regarding their own, otherwise copyrighted, work. When The Constitution established copyright law, it did so in order to encourage the progress of our society, to incentivize the creation of new works that would eventually enrich the public domain, and be accessible to everyone. Tom Lehrer's recent decision to bring all of his lyrics into the public domain does just that.
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