MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - question about copyright / public domain (Frigyes Karinthy)

zelda_pinwheel · 06-01-2008, 12:14 PM

thanks Sparrow, that's very nice of you, but to be honest i'm fed up with the whole thing. i already have contacted a random homonym of the translator, the publisher, and the Hungarian copyright agency, and none of them has been able to help me.

given that the book in question is *definitely* in the public domain (Karinthy died in 1938), and the translation is quite *probably* in the public domain (since it was published in 1925), and even if it's not no-one knows anything about this translator, how to find him, whether or not he's alive, or when he died, AND that the text is actually already freely available online (though not in ebook form), but that nonetheless i can't compile it into ebook form and upload it here (with absolutely no commercial motivation), this whole mess seems completely absurd, worthy of a Kafka story, and leaves me feeling incredibly irritated at the ridiculous state of copyright law. and i beleive i *will* make an ebook of the text to read offline, for my own personal use, even though i cannot share it here.

i should mention, for the record, that everyone i corresponded with in Hungary has been unfailingly kind and helpful (to the best of their abilities, anyway).

06-01-2008, 12:14 PM	#32
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	thanks Sparrow, that's very nice of you, but to be honest i'm fed up with the whole thing. i already have contacted a random homonym of the translator, the publisher, and the Hungarian copyright agency, and none of them has been able to help me. given that the book in question is definitely in the public domain (Karinthy died in 1938), and the translation is quite probably in the public domain (since it was published in 1925), and even if it's not no-one knows anything about this translator, how to find him, whether or not he's alive, or when he died, AND that the text is actually already freely available online (though not in ebook form), but that nonetheless i can't compile it into ebook form and upload it here (with absolutely no commercial motivation), this whole mess seems completely absurd, worthy of a Kafka story, and leaves me feeling incredibly irritated at the ridiculous state of copyright law. and i beleive i will make an ebook of the text to read offline, for my own personal use, even though i cannot share it here. i should mention, for the record, that everyone i corresponded with in Hungary has been unfailingly kind and helpful (to the best of their abilities, anyway).