[andym]

I'm confused about the application of the death plus 70 years rule. ('How hard can it be?' I hear you saying 'a book goes into the public domain 70 years after the death of the author - it's not rocket science'. Well read on).

There seem to be a number of authors who died less than 70 years ago whose books seem to be available in the public domain.

A number of PG Wodehouses's books are available (including some from Project Gutenberg) but others still seem to be under copyright.

George Orwell died in 1950, so presumably his books are still in copyright until 2020 but while his books are on Project Gutenberg Australia (where the copyright legislation is death plus 50). Animal Farm is available on Google Books (I haven't looked for others) and is commonly available from other public domain sources.

Is it the case that these books are actually still under copyright but that the death plus 70 legisaltion isn't being enforced or is there some wrinkle?

In asking this question I had James Joyce's Ulysses in mind. I believe that the position is that (as Joyce died in 1941) it came out of copyright in 1991 but then went back into copyright - at least in Europe - a few years later when the death+70 change came in. I have read though that it's status in the US is unclear because it may be that the book was never in copyright in the US due to the original ban and prosecution.

So as the title of the thread says, I'm confused. Can anyone throw a little light on the subject.