# Public domain lookup tool? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539 "2008-06-20T02:25:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/1 "2008-06-20T02:25:39Z")
Is there a website where you can enter the name of a story to see if the copyright has expired and if it is now in the public domain? ---
**Author:** ![Erasmus\_Darwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Erasmus\_Darwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erasmus_Darwin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/2 "2008-06-20T03:23:53Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Is there a website where you can enter the name of a story to see if the copyright has expired and if it is now in the public domain? [/QUOTE] [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/) might help. It’s not quite an exact match, but it is a project that’s trying to make electronic versions of as many public domain works as possible, and they do list copyright status for the works they’ve included. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/3 "2008-06-20T16:07:44Z")
I don’t know of any website that will do that, but if you have a particular work in mind, it’s only moderately complicated to figure out whether it’s in the public domain provided you know the date and country of first publication. First, visit [this factsheet](http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/) for an overview. For works that would have required renewal in order to remain in copyright (mostly works first published 1923-1964), you can search this [copyright renwal database](http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/search/advanced). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/4 "2008-06-20T16:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=bibliophage] I don’t know of any website that will do that, but if you have a particular work in mind, it’s only moderately complicated to figure out… [/QUOTE] Specifically, the H.P. Lovecraft story _The Shunned House_. It was first published in 1937 – the year of Lovecraft’s death. According to what ‘I know’, the copyright expired on 1 January 2008, 70 years after Lovecraft died. But I’ve heard there was legislation sponsored by Sonny Bono that extended the time to 95 years after the author’s death. And the status of the copyrights of Lovecraft’s works have been controversial for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/5 "2008-06-21T04:45:17Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] Specifically, the H.P. Lovecraft story _The Shunned House_. It was first published in 1937 – the year of Lovecraft’s death. According to what ‘I know’, the copyright expired on 1 January 2008, 70 years after Lovecraft died. [/QUOTE] No, the U.S. copyright terms for works published before 1978 were not tied to the lifetime of the author. For works published before 1978, the U.S. copyright had an initial term of 28 years, with an optional renewal of 28 additional years. The renewal became automatic for works published from 1964 onward, and in 1978 the second term for existing copyrights was extended to 47 years, for a total of 75. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended that to 95 years. When was the copyright of _The Shunned House_ first registered? This [Wikipedia article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shunned_House) says that the story was written in 1924, and was originally planned to be published as a book in 1928. About 250 unbound copies were printed, although not distributed at the time. Was the story registered for an unpublished copyright at that period? If so, the copyright was [not renewed](http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/) in 1951–1956. Or did Lovecraft sell the copyright to _Weird Stories_ when it was published in 1937? The copyrights on 1937 issues of _Weird Stories_ were not renewed in 1964–1965. Arkham House published _The Shunned House_ in its Lovecraft collection [_The Outsider and Others_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsider_and_Others) in 1939, and registered the book’s copyright that year. The copyright was duly renewed in 1966. However, because _The Shunned House_ was a previously published work, its copyright ended on December 31, 1965 unless renewed in 1964–1965. But there was no renewal of _The Shunned House_ then. My educated guess (literally — I’m studying intellectual property in law school): the story is out of copyright and in the public domain. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/public-domain-lookup-tool/453539/6 "2008-06-21T05:36:32Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] Or did Lovecraft sell the copyright to _Weird Stories_ when it was published in 1937? The copyrights on 1937 issues of _Weird Stories_ were not renewed in 1964–1965. \ My educated guess (literally — I’m studying intellectual property in law school): the story is out of copyright and in the public domain. [/QUOTE] No idea if it went to _Weird Stories_. Sounds like it might be out of copyright though. Thanks.