MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Public Domain Day 2016 in the UK: A Special Day

pdurrant · 11-07-2015, 02:50 AM

The UK switched from life+50 to retroactive life+70 on 1st January 1996. So works of authors that died between 1925 and 1944 inclusive became copyrighted again, and works of authors who died in 1945 did not fall into the public domain on 1st January 1996 as they would otherwise have done.

So since 1996, all works entering the public domain in the UK had already been in the public domain at some point.

But now twenty years have passed. On 1st January 2015 we finally got back all the works that had been taken from the public domain by the retroactive copyright extension.

So on 1st January 2016, for the first time in twenty years, we'll see works entering the UK public domain that have never been in the UK public domain before!

An extra cause for celebration on 1st January 2016, I think.

Well, If I have my arithmetic right! I'd welcome some confirmation.

(The USA will have to wait until 1st January 2019 for a similar happy occasion.)

11-07-2015, 02:50 AM	#1
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,005 Karma: 315160596 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Public Domain Day 2016 in the UK: A Special Day The UK switched from life+50 to retroactive life+70 on 1st January 1996. So works of authors that died between 1925 and 1944 inclusive became copyrighted again, and works of authors who died in 1945 did not fall into the public domain on 1st January 1996 as they would otherwise have done. So since 1996, all works entering the public domain in the UK had already been in the public domain at some point. But now twenty years have passed. On 1st January 2015 we finally got back all the works that had been taken from the public domain by the retroactive copyright extension. So on 1st January 2016, for the first time in twenty years, we'll see works entering the UK public domain that have never been in the UK public domain before! An extra cause for celebration on 1st January 2016, I think. Well, If I have my arithmetic right! I'd welcome some confirmation. (The USA will have to wait until 1st January 2019 for a similar happy occasion.)