I believe PG has been clearing books published pre 1923, even if published in London. Now I read about another case saying all books pre 1909 may be free of copyrigiht. I do not know if this will increase or decrease the pool of books. I believe that all books published after 1923 in England are still subject to copyright unless they fall into the 75 year death rule. What is the status of 1909-1923 books? nwolcott2@post.harvard.edu
On 9/14/06, Norm Wolcott <nwolcott2ster@gmail.com> wrote:
I believe PG has been clearing books published pre 1923, even if published in London. Now I read about another case saying all books pre 1909 may be free of copyrigiht. I do not know if this will increase or decrease the pool of books. I believe that all books published after 1923 in England are still subject to copyright unless they fall into the 75 year death rule. What is the status of 1909-1923 books?
According to the 9th Circuit Court in California, books printed between 1908 and 1923 outside the US could still be in copyright. According to just about everyone not heavily partaking of one of that state's major crops, everything printed before 1923 worldwide is out of copyright in the US.
On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 12:16:06 -0500, "David Starner" <prosfilaes@gmail.com> wrote: |On 9/14/06, Norm Wolcott <nwolcott2ster@gmail.com> wrote: |> |> I believe PG has been clearing books published pre 1923, even if published |> in London. Now I read about another case saying all books pre 1909 may be |> free of copyrigiht. I do not know if this will increase or decrease the pool |> of books. I believe that all books published after 1923 in England are still |> subject to copyright unless they fall into the 75 year death rule. What is |> the status of 1909-1923 books? | |According to the 9th Circuit Court in California, books printed |between 1908 and 1923 outside the US could still be in copyright. |According to just about everyone not heavily partaking of one of that |state's major crops, everything printed before 1923 worldwide is out |of copyright in the US. For the EU the rule is death plus *70* years or in some places death plus *50* years -- Dave Fawthrop <hyphen@hyphenologist.co.uk>
Your question confuses me a bit, as it does not seem to make a distinction between different laws in different countries. For the most part, life+x terms do not come into consideration when looking at pre-1989 works in a US juristiction. So, you question was: "What is the status of 1909-1923 books?" There is no definite, unquestioned answer. However, if you'll allow me, I'll present a generalization, as far as I understand it. And of course, IANAL. In the US, a number of different groups have used the pre-1923 cut-off to determine public domain status for many years now. I believe this is what is used by the PG clearance team, based on legal advice they have received. It's been mentioned on this list that there was some legal descion that suggests that there may be some items in the time span you mention that could still be covered by copyright, but I don't know any more than that. In the UK, I can't pretend to know the laws in much detail. I would say it's pretty certain that 1909-1923 books would fall under a life+x term, although whether it would be life+50 or life+75, I couldn't say. As always, the only way to ascertain the status of a book, for the purposes of adding to PG, is is to submit a PG copyright clearance request. Andrew On Thu, 14 Sep 2006, Norm Wolcott wrote:
I believe PG has been clearing books published pre 1923, even if published in London. Now I read about another case saying all books pre 1909 may be free of copyrigiht. I do not know if this will increase or decrease the pool of books. I believe that all books published after 1923 in England are still subject to copyright unless they fall into the 75 year death rule. What is the status of 1909-1923 books?
On 9/14/06, Andrew Sly <sly@victoria.tc.ca> wrote:
In the UK, I can't pretend to know the laws in much detail. I would say it's pretty certain that 1909-1923 books would fall under a life+x term, although whether it would be life+50 or life+75, I couldn't say.
The UK law is life+70, for books both before and after 1909. Note though that it's quite possible for a book to be in copyright in one country, and out of copyright in another, so if you're in the US you don't need to worry about this. There are still probably quite a few books written in the 19th century which are still copy-restricted in the UK. -- Jon Ingram
Thanks for the correction. That's what I get for typing too fast and not looking things up. I was not sure if life+70 had been made completely retroactive in England, but from what I've just read, it looks as if it has... Andrew On Thu, 14 Sep 2006, Jon Ingram wrote:
On 9/14/06, Andrew Sly <sly@victoria.tc.ca> wrote:
In the UK, I can't pretend to know the laws in much detail. I would say it's pretty certain that 1909-1923 books would fall under a life+x term, although whether it would be life+50 or life+75, I couldn't say.
The UK law is life+70, for books both before and after 1909. Note though that it's quite possible for a book to be in copyright in one country, and out of copyright in another, so if you're in the US you don't need to worry about this. There are still probably quite a few books written in the 19th century which are still copy-restricted in the UK.
In article <Pine.GSO.4.58.0609141237290.14464@vtn1.victoria.tc.ca>, Andrew Sly <sly@victoria.tc.ca> writes
Thanks for the correction. That's what I get for typing too fast and not looking things up.
I was not sure if life+70 had been made completely retroactive in England, but from what I've just read, it looks as if it has...
Completely retroactive. When the law changed from life+50 to life+70 some authors works (eg Thomas Hardy) went back into copyright. -- Philip Baker
participants (6)
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Andrew Sly -
Dave Fawthrop -
David Starner -
Jon Ingram -
Norm Wolcott -
Philip Baker