Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm sorry, but I must, with the greatest respect, disagree with you. Editorial changes to a public domain text do not grant a new copyright.
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Okay, since you don't believe me, would you believe a copyright lawyer, and the US government? Naturally, laws from country-to-country vary, but for what it's worth, here's a quote from a lawyer specializing in this subject (emphasis added)...
http://www.copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html
Quote:
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Whenever you rely on the PD status of a work, it is important to make sure that the particular version you want to use is actually in the public domain. Later versions or adaptations (e.g., translations, revisions, annotated and illustrated editions) of PD works may be protected by a separate copyright. Copyright in later versions or adaptations, relates to the fresh layer of creative material added by the second author. To avoid legal entanglements it is important to use only the original PD version -- not any later copyrighted version that may contain editorial interventions. While Shakespeare’s Hamlet is in the public domain, the New Folger Library Edition of Hamlet is not.
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And from this page...
https://www.cendi.gov/publications/0...right.html#225
Quote:
2.2.5 Can a work that includes works in the public domain be copyrighted?
Yes. However, the copyright protects only the original contributions added by the author.
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So perhaps, as you say, the work as a whole can't be copyrighted, but any of those revisions, corrections, etc. that I've made
can be. If anyone was to just copy my book "as is" then they would have to pore over the text all over again, just as I have, and UN-revise those revisions I've made.
In the meantime, I do stand semi-corrected and newly-informed myself here -- and I'll adjust
my copyright notice accordingly (to specifically refer to those
revisions I've made to the various texts).
