Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
The "life+x" system that every other country in the world (AFAIK) uses does, however, make it enormously easier to determine whether or not a book is in the public domain, because only one piece of information is required: the date of death of the author.
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That's assuming you know which "John Smith" wrote "The Marvelous Book". How does the "life+x" deal with an obscure author with no biographical information associated with the book? The old US system only required you to know copyright date, which is normally included with the work, and a database of renewals.