re: [gutvol-d] Top 1000 collection list and suggestion
The US law is anything but messy. [...] With the US law, you just take the printed publication date and add 95 years.
Everything before 1923 is in the public domain, which is a little better. The base of US law is simple; everything printed before 1923 or 95 years old is in the public domain. But there are a lot of books in the public domain due to quirks and various rules that are hard to check. There's six or seven different rules you have to apply (for instance, a book published outside the US that was not registered or not renewed in the US that was out of copyright in the home nation in 1998 or whenever the copyright nation signed a copyright agreement (if later), then it's in the public domain.) In that sense, it's very messy. -- ___________________________________________________________ Sign-up for Ads Free at Mail.com http://promo.mail.com/adsfreejump.htm
Re the recent discussion of various copyright regimes... Yes, the U.S. was a hold-out through most of the 20th century, avoiding the major convention (Berne) that most other Western nations were party to. But I would argue that if the U.S. did not have its unique copyright history, then Project Gutenberg would be rather a different thing today. Neither American or Canadian copyright laws are "better", they are just different. Each provides its own problems for those wanting to utilize the public domain. In a life+N regime, it's a little odd if you find yourself wishing someone had died earlier. (Just today, I looked up the dates for a book I was hoping would be public domain, only to find--the author died in 1968. Darn.) And you also have the uncertain situations. Here is a description from the LoC of a title that have availible, if I want it: LC Control Number: 32012123 Type of Material: Text (Book, Microform, Electronic, etc.) Personal Name: Powell, Van. [from old catalog] Main Title: The mystery crash, Published/Created: New York, Chicago, A. L. Burt company [c1932] Description: 285 p. front. 19 cm. LC Classification: PZ7.P88 Sk no. 1 Is it PD in Canada under life+50? Who knows? I've done some searching and cannot find any dates for the author. Andrew
Many L+?? regimes have provisions for a fixed term when the author's death date cannot readily be determined. I couldn't tell you if Canada is one of those jurisdictions. -- RS
Andrew Sly <sly@victoria.tc.ca> writes:
And you also have the uncertain situations. Here is a description from the LoC of a title that have availible, if I want it:
LC Control Number: 32012123 Type of Material: Text (Book, Microform, Electronic, etc.) Personal Name: Powell, Van. [from old catalog] Main Title: The mystery crash, Published/Created: New York, Chicago, A. L. Burt company [c1932] Description: 285 p. front. 19 cm. LC Classification: PZ7.P88 Sk no. 1
Interesting. LC Control Number: no2003090172 HEADING: Powell, Van 000 00427cz 2200145n 450 001 6046275 005 20030910113802.0 008 030909n| acannaabn |n aaa c 010 __ |a no2003090172 035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca06147918 040 __ |a LU |b eng |c LU |d DLC 100 1_ |a Powell, Van 670 __ |a His The mystery crash, 1932: |b t.p. (Van Powell) 670 __ |a LC Online Catalog, Sept. 8, 2003 |b (hdg.: Powell, Van; usage: Van Powell) 952 __ |a yz00 According to http://www.geocities.com/jjnevins/pulpss.html Sky Scout. The Sky Scout was created by A. Van Buren Powell and appeared in the four-book "Sky Scout" series, which began in 1932 with The Mystery Crash. The Sky Scout was an air detective. This is interesting because, according to LOC Authority "A. Van Buren Powell" is different from "Van Powell". The LOC Authority Heading Sez: LC Control Number: no 98132725 HEADING: Powell, A. Van Buren (Ardon Van Buren), b. 1886 000 00583nz 2200181n 450 001 916286 005 19981223051753.4 008 981222n| acannaab |a aaa c 010 __ |a no 98132725 035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca04886541 035 __ |a (DLC)no 98132725 040 __ |a MdU |c MdU 100 10 |a Powell, A. Van Buren |q (Ardon Van Buren), |d b. 1886 400 10 |a Powell, Ardon Van Buren, |d b. 1886 670 __ |a Call of the clouds, c1940: |b t.p. (A. Van Buren Powell) 670 __ |a LC PREM file |b (hdg.: Powell, Ardon Van Buren, 1886- ; usage: A. Van Buren Powell) 953 __ |a xx00 985 __ |c OCLC |e LSPC Kingkong (http://www.kingkong.demon.co.uk/ngcoba/po.htm) turns up: (Ardon) Van (Buren) POWELL {US} (M: 1886 - ?) (&ps: David O'HARA) The Mystery Boys And The Inca Gold [f|1931] The Mystery Boys And Captain Kidd's Message [f|1931] The Mystery Boys And The Secret Of The Golden Sun [f|1931] The Mystery Boys And The Chinese Jewels [f|1931] The Mystery Boys And The Hindu Treasure [f|1931] The Mystery Crash [f|1932] The Haunted Hangar [f|1932] The Vanishing Air Liner [f|1932] The Ghost Of Mystery Airport [f|1932] Jimmie Drury, Candid Camera Detective (ps: David O'HARA) [f|1938] What The Dark Room Revealed (ps: David O'HARA) [f|1939] Caught By The Camera (ps: David O'HARA) [f|1939] By Bursting Flash Bulbs (ps: David O'HARA) [f|1941] Who also appears to have written: BUD BRIGHT, BOY DETECTIVE -- 1929. Penn. BUD BRIGHT AND THE BANK ROBBERS -- 1929. Penn. BUD BRIGHT AND THE KIDNAPERS -- 1930. Penn. BUD BRIGHT AND THE DRUG RING -- 1931. Penn. BUD BRIGHT AND THE COUNTERFEITERS -- 1931. Penn. Are these two people the same? I have no idea. They both wrote about the same time in simular genres. Even if they are, we still only have a birth date and no death date. It just goes to show how difficult it is to track down dates for authority records, and LOC does make mistakes from time to time. b/ -- Brad Collins <brad@chenla.org>, Bangkok, Thailand
participants (4)
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Andrew Sly -
Brad Collins -
D. Starner -
Robert Shimmin