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Originally Posted by GA Russell
It's not clear to me what catastrophe would happen in the real world if you just went ahead and published the work.
If the book is a money maker, you could lose everything if an heir is discovered and he sues for royalties owed.
But if no heir is discovered, who would stop you?
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We're considering this. We're also looking into what documentation exists, because there may be a letter or something granting publication rights in something less than formal contract language.
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The scenario in this thread, and we saw this a couple of years ago in another thread about orphaned works, is the idea that no one claims to own the copyright, but the world will end if you go ahead and publish and then a rights holder comes forward later. I believe that in that case you would have to pay damages in the amount of the royalties you have earned to that point. As long as you don't spend the money, I don't see a problem.
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We may go ahead and do that. (We'd spend the money. But we'd be aware that, In Case Of Lawsuit, we might have to give it all back and then some.)