Quote:
Originally Posted by Brendan Moody
1923 to 1977 works (those that aren't already public domain for various technical reasons) have a set 95-year copyright term from publication. So in fact it's the reverse of what you think: those works will enter the public domain, in the earliest cases very shortly, unless legislation moves the goalposts yet again.
UPDATE: Just saw your update. That is indeed an ugly flowchart. This is a little easier to read: https://copyright.cornell.edu/resour...blicdomain.cfm. |
I was not aware of the 95-year copyright term set for 1923-1977 works. That's a little excessive, for non-corporate works, in my personal opinion. Who collects the royalties or commissions for the oldest of those works--wouldn't it be people like great-grand nieces, 4th cousins 3 times removed, great-great-great grandchildren? They very, very rarely would share in any inheritance that the author left, but they may collect money from his/her book(s)! There's something wrong with that picture.
But, I'm glad that they won't kept out of the public domain perpetually. I'm looking forward to the impending release of some 1923-1977 works into the public domain. I can't tell you the number of times that I have wanted to read a book, but found out that the copyright was in a year like 1924, 1927--some year just past 1922--and so I couldn't read it without either buying a copy or getting the local library to do an interlibrary loan (I try not to do that--the interlibrary loans cost the libraries money and our library system is so badly underfunded) for me.
Oh, the chart that you linked to is very good (BTW--I didn't say that my flow chart was
ugly, I just said that it was not
particularly attractive. ha). But even though I'm mathematically challenged, I think logically, so the flow chart works better for me. But, your chart sure was prettier. ha
A bit of trivia: I didn't want to give it, earlier, in a post that told about Anne Frank . . . . I read a couple of years ago that Adolf Hitler's
Mein Kampf is still not in the public domain in the U.S. (I may not even have known before then that it was copyrighted). That surprised me. But after this discussion, I know the reason why. From what you and the charts said, by law it will stay out until after 95 years from the date of copyright (which, without looking it up, would be in the late 1920's or maybe early 1930's). If my calculations are right, it should go into the public domain in the U.S. in about 10 years from now. Incidentally, the book was so popular in Germany, at least, that Hitler became well-off financially from the royalties from sales of it. And, I can't help but wonder who is collecting royalties from it now--maybe one of his distant family members, most of whom changed their last names, if those names had been "Hitler" (or "Hidler") because of the obvious connection with Adolf that people would make .