Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
To answer the original poster's question, in the UK at least, a posthumous work has copyright protection for 50 years from the end of the year of its initial publication. The date of the author's death is not relevent in this circumstance.
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So, a work published one year after the author's death would be public domain 50 years afterwards, even though the author died less than 70 years before?
Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
unpublished works only have copyright for lifetime+70 years. But there is a fifty year transition period.
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So, a work published 71 years after the author's death would be instantly public domain?
I think it would be more logical to have a combination of both rules. Does anyone know how it is in Canada or the rest of the European Union?
P.S. When I said it was "easy" in the US, I meant that posthumous works were treated just the same as regular lifetime works. I am aware it is actually far from "easy"