When is this movie coming out? A few months ago, somebody mentioned that the movie version of the old E.R. Burroughs book was coming out. When is it diue? Does anybody know who owns the rights to the Burroughs books? I believe ERB has been dead quite a few years now!
I would’ve thought the copyrights would have expired by now.
And I always preferred the title: John Carter, Gentleman from Virginia
Maybe Tars Tarkas will check in with the answers.
Copyrights are for life of the author plus 95 years.
Edgar Rice Burroughs died in 1950. So, the copyrights are still very much in force, and held by his descendants.
We’re negotiating over contract details, and Dejah Thoris is insisting that a red-dusted Ashley Judd be cast in her role.
I’ll keep you posted as things progress.
Held viciously by his decendants. Almost as bad a Disney.
Wouldn’t you?
Won’t someone please think of, Podkayne!
First of all, it’s life plus 70 years. Works made for hire and anonymous works are 95 years from the first publication, or 120 years from its first creation, whichever expires first, but that doesn’t apply to Burroughs.
Second, John Carter of Mars first appeared in 1911. Most of the books are in public domain and can be found at the Gutenberg Project (see http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext93/pmars13.txt, for instance).
I don’t see “John Carter” or “Tarzan” in the trademark database, but I may not be searching correctly; it seems very likely the heirs did trademark those.
1912, not 1911.
And it’s life plus 95 years since Congress’s recent revision.
None of Burroughs’ works should be in the public domain.
Well, according to the Copyright Law of the US (downloaded by may on 5/5/2003 and dated July 2001 – according to this timeline,, the change of term in the law was in 1998):
Section 302© does not apply to Burroughs, since “John Carter” was not published anonymously.
When “A Princess of Mars” was published, the copyright law provided for a term of 28 years, with an possible renewal of another 28 years. Assuming this term, and the 1912 date, it meant that it went into public domain in 1968. Since it was in the public domain before January 1, 1978, the extension in the law did not apply. Anything Burroughs published prior to 1924 should be PD.
And the proof is at Project Gutenberg: The following public domain texts by ERB are listed:
At The Earth’s Core
Beasts Of Tarzan
Chessmen Of Mars, The
Efficiency Expert, The
Gods Of Mars
Jungle Tales Of Tarzan
Land That Time Forgot, The
Lost Continent, The
Mad King, The
Monster Men, The
Mucker, The
by Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950
Oakdale Affair, The
Out Of Time’s Abyss
Outlaw of Torn, The
Pellucidar
People Out Of Time
Princess Of Mars, A
Return of Tarzan
Son of Tarzan
Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar
Tarzan Of The Apes (COPYRIGHTED WORK)
Tarzan Of The Apes
Tarzan The Terrible
Tarzan The Untamed
Thuvia
Warlord of Mars
Note that there is also a copyrighted version of “Tarzan of the Apes.” That’s an audiobook MP3 file; the text would still be PD, but the recording is copyrighted.
The Wikipedia indicates the US copyright on Tarzan is expired (though it is in effect in Europe; I’m not familiar with european copyright law, so I can’t say why.). “Tarzan,” however, is trademarked, so a US publisher would have trouble reprinting it. It’s also probable that “John Carter of Mars” is trademarked.
My bad. I’d thought the Sonny Bono Act was post-2001, and extended the life-plus copyright for single authors from 70 to 95. Looks like it was from 50 to 70.
Synchronicitously, I’m currently reading Tanar of Pellucidar, copyright 1929, so presumably it’s still protected. Shame (for his heirs) it wasn’t among his more popular works. This is the 1978 Ace paperback with the Frazetta cover.
To be clear, the life + years formula applies only to works created or published after the revision of copyright law via The Copyright Act of 1976. The Copyright Act of 1909 applies to works created and published earlier than that; it protected works for a flat term of 28 years which could be extended for another 28 years by the rightsholder. More recent revisions of the law have further extended that term, but only for works which were still protected when those revisions were made (such as in 1998). As of now, anything published after some point in the early '20’s is out of copyright in the U.S.
–Cliffy
Maybe Noah Wylie could play the main character.