Quote:
Originally Posted by maddz
The problem with that is reprinted content. Would the copyright run from the date of the first publication of a piece or the date of the current issue? That could get messy.
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I agree it could get messy, but one way to reduce the issue is for an article first published in 1940 (but reprinted in a magazine published in 1960) to put something like a "This article was first published in 1940." for the reprinted article. Thus, the copyright for the original material in the magazine would based on the year the magazine itself was released but the copyright for that article would be based on the year it was originally published.
Related would be the issue with comic books. Recently trade paperbacks, which reprint old and not so old comic book stories, have become a significant part of comic book publishing. The above could be applied to the individual reprints in the trade paperbacks. As an example, by the rule I suggested
Action Comics #1 (first published in 1938) would go into the Public Domain in 1940. Although the issue has been reprinted at least twice, the copyright is based on the date it was first published and it would apply to any reprints of that issue and any of the stories (if reprinted separately) from that issue.