Which authors will soon be public domain?

[HarryT]

I think it's inevitable that Canada will join the "life+70" club sooner or later. That's the copyright term that the overwhelming majority of western nations now have.

[Greg Anos]

Until Hollywood forces life + 100

[Greg Anos]

A little more comment. It is not inevitable the Canada will go life + 70 unless they are coerced into it. And when I say coerced, I mean just that. If you look at the Australian conversion from life +50 to life + 70, it was done by US coercion. Specifically, the US made it a non negotiable part of a major free trade agreement with Australia. They swallowed it in order to get the free trade pact.

[HarryT]

It's just my personal opinion, Ralph. I may very well be wrong, but 70 years appears now to be the general consensus among developed nations about what's considered a "reasonable" term.

[Daithi]

I believe Mexico is life+100 and when life+70 starts expiring my guess is that's going to be everyone else's next step too.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's just my personal opinion, Ralph. I may very well be wrong, but 70 years appears now to be the general consensus among developed nations about what's considered a "reasonable" term.

In my personal opinion, Harry, it is not the consensus among the people of the developed nations, but merely the consensus of developed nation's politicians, being paid by rich corporations to do their bidding. And I consider politicians "paid" whether or not there is a quid pro quo or merely a number of campaign contributions...

And when those corporations start losing copyright protections for paying properties, they'll pay for some more extension. After all, that's how Berne got extended from Life + 50 to Life + 70 in the first place. Check the US government in about another 6-8 years. (1923 + 95 = 2018 -2009 = 9 more years and things start falling into the public domain again. Any bets that Congress doesn't extend them again? (And goes after Berne as well))...

RSE

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Daithi

I believe Mexico is life+100 and when life+70 starts expiring my guess is that's going to be everyone else's next step too.

It's "expiring" every year, as time passes, and new books are entering the public domain - everywhere except the USA. Eg, the books of authors who died in 1938 are now in the public domain in the UK; they were not last year. Please don't judge the copyright systems of the entire world by the (forgive my saying so, but it's true) peculiar system that the US has adopted.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

In my personal opinion, Harry, it is not the consensus among the people of the developed nations, but merely the consensus of developed nation's politicians, being paid by rich corporations to do their bidding. And I consider politicians "paid" whether or not there is a quid pro quo or merely a number of campaign contributions...

I must very respectfully disagree with you, Ralph. Eg, the British Parliament recently rejected a call to increase music "performance copyright" from its current 50 year time, despite considerable pressure from the music industry to do so. Governments don't always bow to the whims of commercial pressures, I'm happy to say.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must very respectfully disagree with you, Ralph. Eg, the British Parliament recently rejected a call to increase music "performance copyright" from its current 50 year time, despite considerable pressure from the music industry to do so. Governments don't always bow to the whims of commercial pressures, I'm happy to say.

I'm afraid you're wrong there. The UK Government commissioned a report - the "Gower Report" that came out very strongly against extending the copyright length.

The Government is still going along with current European moves to extend the mechanical copyright from 50 to 70 years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4...us-anyway.html

[griffonwing]

DOH!

I went to check on the Animal Farm books, read that the author dies in 1985. I wondered what all the fuss was about since it was impossible for his works to be in the PD for another 50 years.

It was then I realized I had looked up Orson Welles instead of George Orwell.

DOH

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm afraid you're wrong there. The UK Government commissioned a report - the "Gower Report" that came out very strongly against extending the copyright length.

The Government is still going along with current European moves to extend the mechanical copyright from 50 to 70 years.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4...us-anyway.html

Bugger. Thanks, Paul; I'd missed that .

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

After all, that's how Berne got extended from Life + 50 to Life + 70 in the first place.

Actually, the Berne Convention is still 'only' lifetime+50 years. Otherwise Canada couldn't be party to it.

The lifetime+70 started to gain ground when the EU standardised its copyright lengths in the mid 1980s. The USA joined in a decade later, and is now compelling other countries to also sign up to lifetime+70.

It's a total distortion of copyright as an economic incentive to production. The longer of 50 years and life is /more/ than enough to allow creators to gain from their works.

The interesting thing is that it's not the royalty to the author that keeps prices of in-copyright books high. It's the monopoly of the publisher. Note that for a 7 UKP paperback at most 0.7 UKP goes to the author. And yet "Wordsworth Classics" sell at 2 UKP and still make a profit for the publisher.

[jgray]

Why don't the politicians just simplify things? All this life + whatever is confusing. I propose that we use a new unit to measure the length of copyrights that is simple and honestly describes the process. This new unit is called the Mickey. The length of a copyright automatically extends to whatever is required to keep Mickey Mouse from going public domain. No more bothering the poor politicians with passing new legislation every few years, just automatically extend the copyright term every time old Mickey is in danger. And think of the children! They will be protected from seeing their hero sullied by public domain ruffians.

[griffonwing]

Yeah, the MICKEY!!

[Daithi]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's "expiring" every year, as time passes, and new books are entering the public domain - everywhere except the USA. Eg, the books of authors who died in 1938 are now in the public domain in the UK; they were not last year. Please don't judge the copyright systems of the entire world by the (forgive my saying so, but it's true) peculiar system that the US has adopted.

Yes, I know that in some countries works are "expiring". That's why I started this thread in the first place. I wanted to alert Mobilereaders to some authors that would be entering into the public domain in the near future.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Please don't judge the copyright systems of the entire world by the peculiar system that the US has adopted." I believe my criticism of countries that extend copyright protections, which have the affect of keeping works out of the public domain, is a valid criticism and is flaw affecting many nations and not just a pecuilar feature of the U.S. system.