On 14 Sep 2005, at 11:18, N Wolcott wrote:
Why is it that PG maintains the fiction that MK is still in copyright when Fredonia is publishing a PD version? Obviously they know something we don't or haven't bothered to find out. Fredonia books are printed and distriibuted in the US.
From what I understand, after the war the state of Bavaria confiscated all of Adolf Hitler's properties, including any copyrights he owned. As the author of Mein Kampf, he owned the copyrights to that work.
Copyright in the E.U. has since been "harmonized" to life+70. Leaving conspiracy theories aside, Hitler died in 1945, which means the book is burdened by copyright until 2016. I have no doubt many governments will think of something else to censor the book at that point--or they will simply cease to care and let art and nature run its course. This also means that in most countries in the world (mostly Life+50 regimes), Mein Kampf is indeed in the public domain, though it may be censored using different tools and on different grounds. Wikipedia claims that the Dutch and English situation is different; but does not explain the latter. In the case of the Netherlands, the Dutch government seized the copyrights and forbids publication on the grounds that the text incites hatred (which is a crime or a fellony over here in some cases). Whether Mein Kampf is burdened by copyright in the US depends on whether it was published there or not, IIRC. IANAL. This is not legal advice. Mein Kampf first appeared in Germany in 1925. -- branko collin collin@xs4all.nl