Quote:
Originally Posted by wacomme
I'm considering a Kindle, mostly for reading classics. I thought I'd start out rereading a classic, The Great Gatsby.
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The complete works of F. Scott Fitzgerald have been in the public domain in Canada, and other death + 50 copyright countries, for many years, Fitzgerald having died in 1940.
The Great Gatsby passed into the public domain in Australia when that nation entered the year 2011 some hours ago.
Within the next two hours, all works by F. Scott Fitzgerald will pass into the public domain in death + 70 countries, which include all of the EU.
Question to anyone who knows: In two hours or so, will there remain anyplace in the world where his complete works are not public domain, other than the United States?
As for the morality of not respecting copyright, this is an individual matter that is endlessly debated on the internet with no conclusion.
Will a R.I.A.A. of literary classics pop up and try to catch and punish you for downloading something by a long-deceased author? This is really quite unlikely, especially with the works found on this site, which are all public domain per the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (the international treaty providing a minimum copyright period some countries like the US and UK add extras on top of).
P.S. Thank you for a terrifically well-timed question!
P.S.S. If you find yourself abroad, or decide that you are not going to respect US copyright, you might want to google "Project Gutenberg Canada" and "Project Gutenberg of Australia."