Quote:
Originally Posted by KyBunnies
I was wondering if old hymnals lose the copyright attached to them. I have some dating back to the mid 1850's.
Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question.
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I don't think any country has a perpetual copyright. The question is when the copyright expires. This varies from country to country.
If the author died more than 70 years ago, the work will be out of copyright nearly* everywhere, and is eligible for upload to MobileRead.
1850? Well, suppose one of the hymns was by a new hymn writer aged 20 in 1850. If even if she lived to be 110, then she'd have died in 1940, and the work would now be out of copyright.
I think you're pretty safe in assuming that any book published in 1850 is now in the public domain.
*it may still be in copyright in the few countries that have a longer copyright (e.g. Mexico) or special terms (e.g. US)