MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - New Leaf Vote for March 2018 • The Book Came First

recc · 03-08-2018, 04:14 PM

I've found the following 2 sites useful in trying to determine if an older book is still under copyright in the US:

Cornell University has a helpful chart of the numerous changes in US copyright terms.

Stanford University has a searchable database of copyright renewals from 1950 to 1992.

In the US, "life plus 70" applies only to books published after 1977. The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952, and therefore is governed by earlier rules which required renewal after the initial term of 28 years. If no renewal was filed, then the book is in the public domain.

Checking the Stanford database, I found that the copyright was renewed on Hemingway's earlier works such as The Sun Also Rises, but there is no copyright renewal shown for The Old Man and the Sea (other than a study guide and an introduction).

Having checked these two sites, I am quite comfortable downloading a public domain version of this book from fadedpage, and believe that I am not violating US copyright rules. Certainly I may have missed some pertinent information somewhere, but I agree with Catlady that there is a limit to how much due diligence is reasonably expected of those of us who simply want to read a book.

Hope this helps.

03-08-2018, 04:14 PM	#72
recc avid reader Posts: 2 Karma: 558068 Join Date: May 2016 Location: montana Device: ipad air	I've found the following 2 sites useful in trying to determine if an older book is still under copyright in the US: Cornell University has a helpful chart of the numerous changes in US copyright terms. Stanford University has a searchable database of copyright renewals from 1950 to 1992. In the US, "life plus 70" applies only to books published after 1977. The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952, and therefore is governed by earlier rules which required renewal after the initial term of 28 years. If no renewal was filed, then the book is in the public domain. Checking the Stanford database, I found that the copyright was renewed on Hemingway's earlier works such as The Sun Also Rises, but there is no copyright renewal shown for The Old Man and the Sea (other than a study guide and an introduction). Having checked these two sites, I am quite comfortable downloading a public domain version of this book from fadedpage, and believe that I am not violating US copyright rules. Certainly I may have missed some pertinent information somewhere, but I agree with Catlady that there is a limit to how much due diligence is reasonably expected of those of us who simply want to read a book. Hope this helps.