On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 18:11:07 -0400, "Wallace J.McLean" <ag737@freenet.carleton.ca> wrote: | | | | |>From the UK Act: | | |Duration of copyright | |Section 12: Duration of copyright in literary, dramatic, musical or |artistic works | |12.-(1) The following provisions have effect with respect to the |duration of copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic |work. | |(2) Copyright expires at the end of the period of 70 years from the |end of the calendar year in which the author dies, subject as follows. | | | |SCHEDULE 1 | |Copyright: transitional provisions and savings | | |3. The new copyright provisions apply in relation to things existing |at commencement as they apply in relation to things coming into |existence after commencement, subject to any express provision to the |contrary. | |5.-(1) Copyright subsists in an existing work after commencement only |if copyright subsisted in it immediately before commencement. | | |Duration of copyright in existing works | |12.-(1) The following provisions have effect with respect to the |duration of copyright in existing works. | |The question which provision applies to a work shall be determined by |reference to the facts immediately before commencement; and |expressions used in this paragraph which were defined for the purposes |of the 1956 Act have the same meaning as in that Act. | |(2) Copyright in the following descriptions of work continues to |subsist until the date on which it would have expired under the 1956 |Act- | |(a) literary, dramatic or musical works in relation to which the |period of 50 years mentioned in the proviso to section 2(3) of the |1956 Act (duration of copyright in works made available to the public |after the death of the author) has begun to run; | | | |Unless I'm missing something, reading all these sections together, |esp. s. 5(1) of the Schedule, spell non-retroactivity of the stupid, |stupid, stupid 20-year extension to life+70. If the life+50 term had |already run out, the life+70 term does NOT apply. The UK parliament absolutely *hates* retrospective laws, and almost never passes them, so this is what I would expect. -- Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> "Intelligent Design?" my knees say *not*. "Intelligent Design?" my back says *not*. More like "Incompetent design". Sig (C) Copyright Public Domain