Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg
Question:
Consider this book published in 1923, in both the UK and US, by an author who died in 1975:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inimitable_Jeeves
US copyright formalities were complied with (registration in 1923 and renewal in 1950):
https://collections.stanford.edu/cop...eID=380619164X
Per the Cornell US copyright rule specification, this book will be in the public domain on January 1, 2019. That's because it has these characteristics limiting copyright to the end of calendar year that is 95 years after publication date:
-- First Published Outside the U.S. by Foreign Nationals or U.S. Citizens Living Abroad
-- Date of publication 1923 through 1977
-- Published in compliance with all US formalities (i.e., notice, renewal)
I doubt Cornell's Copyright Information Center is wrong. And yet, if the US complies with Berne's Life + 50 requirement, Jeeves can't pass into the US public domain until January 1, 2026.
One possible explanation is this provision in Title 17 of the United States Code: The obligations of the United States under the Berne Convention may be performed only pursuant to appropriate domestic law. Since US law doesn't provide for "Life +" copyright for books published before 1978 (afterwards, Life + 70), there isn't any circumstance under which Berne's Life + 50 applies in the US. But, if that's true, how is it that the US can claim to abide by Berne?
I can think of some easy answers that may be suggested (US law could change before 2019; Cornell criteria are worthless; US hyper-power (please forgive word choice here) trumps international law. But I'm thinking there may be a better answer. Does anyone have one? |
The clear one - the US does not abide by Berne. (If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, paddles like a duck, quacks like a duck...it's a duck!)