i have a book that i want to make copies of and distribute. it was written/published in 1924. can i do it? without paying anybody, that is.
From here:
So it depends on if the author is dead or alive, a person or a corporation, and where they are located. I wouldn’t copy yet.
but, the second paragraph is for after 1978, correct? btw, the author died in 1953.
Well, asuming the author was a person, the copyright will expire at the end of this year. Before then, if you copy, you’ll be in violation, even if it is only a couple of months. (well, 7 I suppose)
well, hopefully, that author died in May!
Seriously, thanks, alice!
I’m not a U.S. lawyer, but it looks to me as if alice’s information may be incorrect. At the very least it looks as if we need more details. An overview of copyright duration can be found here (I got it from another thread; it seems to be reliable). Also, the comments of RealityChuck in this thread point to a longer duration.
I would not assume without further investigation that the book will indeed fall in the public domain in the near future. A lawyer specialized in IP law may be able to give better info; all I can do is urge caution.
The link I mentioned before was given in this thread on movie copyright duration.
I checked the link provided by alice_in_wonderland. The author apparently is a British non-lawyer, who apparently is not aware of the recent change of copyright protection duration. See U.S Code Title 17, Chapter 3, Section 302 (info by Blalron in this thread). The extension of copyright duration was instituted by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (see Wikipedia for references).
The Supreme Court recently ruled that the copyright extension does not violate the constitution: Eldred vs Ashcroft, January 15, 2003 (original text, also at Open directory)
handsomeharry, the short answer is that US books copyrighted in 1924 are still under copyright and will be for another 19 years. As TTT correctly indicates, Alice’s statements are incorrect.
Oops. Sorry bout that. :eek:
my head is spinning…thanks, all!
Wait!! Stop the Presses!!(i amuse me!)
i just checked the link given earlier. So, it looks as if the book is printed in 1923 i can get away with it, no?
17 USC § 304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights
Let’s assume that the author renewed the 1923 copyright in 1951 as the first 28-year copyright term expired. The author then died in 1953, as you say.
Under the pre-1978 copyright law, his copyright would last until 50 years after his death. But under the copyright law that went into effect in 1978, that term was extended to 75 years from first publication. That means the copyright extended until the end of 1998 (1923 + 75 = 1998) (all copyrights expire at the end of the year), by which time the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 saved it just in the nick of time from falling into the public domain.
So, the book’s copyright will expire 95 years after first publication, which will be at the end of 2018.
No. Before 1978, a copyright lasted for 17 years, renewable for another 17. The 1978 law gave life + 50 to any work under copyright, but not to anything that went into PD.
Back to the OP, any work copyright prior to 1924 is now PD. The key question in this case is: “Was the copyright renewed?” If it was not renewed, the book is PD. If it was, it’s under protection for death + 70 years (due to Hitler’s* copyright exension act).
1953 + 70 = 2023.
*Blame Adoph, not Sonny; the extra years were added originally to keep Mein Kampf from becoming public domain.
You could also see if it is available from Project Gutenberg, which puts public domain works up for download.
Let someone else do the research! I’d check it for you, but I dont know the name or author.
As a little sidetrack to what Reailty Chuck said, the copyright to Mein Kampf is now owned by the Bavarian State government.
Chuck, I’m really surprised at you. You’re usually a rock in these copyright contretemps and now this. What were you thinking of?
Everyone, Walloon is right in this. The current copyright law for books published after January 1, 1923 is publication date + 95 years. A 1924 book will go out of copyright in 2019. The date of the author’s death has no bearing on it.
(The book in question had to be properly renewed 28 (not 17) years after publication, in 1952. Many books were not and so went into the public domain. The Library of Congress will do a search to check into the public domain status of a work, but charges a fee for this service.)
Chuck, bookmark Charlie Petit’s page on copyright terms. It’s as overcomplicated as only a lawyer can make it, but it has all the relevant info in one handy place.
No. The U.S. Copyright Act of 1909 extended the term of copyright to 28 years, with an optional renewal of 28 years.
The Copyright Act of 1790 had a limited term of 14 years, with a 14-year renewal. An 1831 revision of the copyright law extended the first term to 28 years, with a 14-year renewal.
No. Works originally published in the U.S. before 1923 are in the public domain. And this book in question was published in 1923.
No. From Chapter 17 U.S. Code (emphasis added):
According to the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Eldred v. Ashcroft, the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 “harmonizes the baseline United States copyright term with the term adopted by the European Union in 1993. See Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 Harmonizing the Term of Protection of Copyright and Certain Related Rights. . .”
That EU directive gives a full list of reasons for extending copyright terms; none involves Hitler. The main reason:
Well, I bet the Sonny Bono Act doesn’t specifically cite the desire to protect Disney cartoons from coming into the public domain but that was a major impetus for the U.S. to match the rest of the world’s new terms.
It appears that the older EU law was death + 50 or publication + 75, whichever was earlier. That would have meant Mein Kampf would have come into the public domain back in 1995. It is now under copyright until 2015, so the 20-year extension may have been to keep it under wraps. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the book’s history.
This is the way laws work. People who will benefit will lobby for them.
my head is spinning even more, now!
thanks for all of the input, everyone.
the book is Christ the Healer by F F Bosworth, and i don’t know if any of the copyrights were renewed or if it is the old ‘preface copyright’ trick that the heirs use.