06-20-2010, 03:36 PM | #1 |
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Rule of Thumb, US Copyright
What is the general guideline for a book entering the PD in the US? I would like to test my hand at a making some epubs based on older books that I cannot locate on Gütenberg Project, but do not wish to make then public if it is unlawful to do so.
IN particular, I am looking at The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason. My copy says it was first published in 1926. Thank you in advance. |
06-20-2010, 06:15 PM | #2 |
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[I]The Richest Man in Babylon[I] is already available in ePub format here on MR.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62820 BN Publishing produced the Kindle version so I am guessing they would know if the book entered public domain. I think the problem is if the copyright has been renewed which would extend it to 95 years according to Cornell University. |
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06-20-2010, 06:22 PM | #3 |
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Copyright in the US till 2027, unless the copyright term is extended again before that. That's assuming the copyright was rewnwed.
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06-20-2010, 09:38 PM | #4 | |
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I am curious as to why it's allowed to continue in places here, if it is not in the PD. I'm not telling the copyright police, though. Ah well, I found Acres of Diamonds on Gütenberg, and that spells "Safe" to me. (Bad spelling is one of my excuses for not doing original stories, it sounds so much better than, "I'm too lazy.") |
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06-20-2010, 10:00 PM | #5 |
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The governing law for Mobile Read is of country where server is located. Which happens to be Canada. The Canadian copyright law places in public domain works 50 years after author's death. So, it is in public domain, you just happened to hail from the country where copyright laws are different.
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06-20-2010, 11:18 PM | #6 |
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The rule of thumb for US copyrights is that if it was originally published before 1923, it's in the public domain, if it was published before 1964 and not copyright was not renewed 28 years after the original copyright, it's in the public domain. Anything published prior to 1978 that's in copyright currently has a 95 year copyright term, (so The Richest Man in Babylon should become public domain on 1 January 2022, not 2027 as Iphinome listed), and anything published after 1977 has a copyright term of life+70.
Here are URLs for searching US Copyright/Copyright renewal: Copyright renewal search at Stanford Library of Congress Copyright search |
06-21-2010, 02:43 AM | #7 | |
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Be careful with this particular book, though. There is a revised edition of it which has been very widely pirated. This revised edition is NOT in the public domain anywhere, and the US copyright holder is extremely active in tracking down and taking legal action against those who post it illegally. You might be better off starting with something a little less "litigation prone", because of this, especially given the fact that, although the book you have is in the public domain in many countries, you'd technically be breaking copyright law in redistributing it, since it's not in the public domain in the US. Last edited by HarryT; 06-21-2010 at 03:08 AM. |
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06-21-2010, 03:09 AM | #8 |
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It looks like it was renewed in 1954 and again in 1983 so it will be the full 95 years.
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06-21-2010, 03:15 AM | #9 |
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06-21-2010, 12:50 PM | #10 |
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06-21-2010, 01:56 PM | #11 | |
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Every time the copyright is about to expire on the early Disney films, there is a deluge of copyright lobbying to extend copyright again, in the name of the artistic creator, who is already long dead.... |
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06-21-2010, 03:35 PM | #12 |
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06-22-2010, 06:25 AM | #13 |
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US copyright law should start operating "normally" (ie the way it does in the rest of the world) from 2048 onwards, when "life + 70" copyrights start expiring for authors who died in 1977, the year in which the US adopted a conventional "life + 70" copyright term. Until 2048, it will probably continue to be the "odd man out" in copyright terms.
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06-22-2010, 10:21 AM | #14 | |
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06-22-2010, 10:29 AM | #15 | |
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