Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
I think that versions of the texts published after his death with minor corrections will also be in the public domain then, as the changes are not sufficiently significant to count as a new text subject to a new copyright.
Introductions and commentaries, of course, do have their own copyrights.
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17 U.S.C. § 101:
A “derivative work” is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted.
A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a “derivative work”.
17 U.S.C. § 103(b):
The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material.
US Copyright Office Circular 14: Derivative Works:
A typical example of a derivative work received for registration in the Copyright Office is one that is primarily a new work but incorporates some previously published material. This previously published material makes the work a derivative work under the copyright law. To be copyrightable, a derivative work must be different enough from the original to be regarded as a "new work" or must contain a substantial amount of new material.
Making minor changes or additions of little substance to a preexisting work will not qualify the work as a new version for copyright purposes. The new material must be original and copyrightable in itself. Titles, short phrases, and format, for example, are not copyrightable.
Analysis:
As you say, his introductions and commenatries would receive new copyrights. As to the numerous "editorial revisions", I don't think there is any relevant case law specifically on this point. However, given the substantial amount of work that went into numerous changes and revisions for the 50th Anniversary Edition (on which these ebooks are derived), you can bet that they would try to defend the copyright of those editions even after the earlier editions pass into public domain. I'm sure they would also argue that you can't separate the introductions and commentaries from the textual revisions; they go hand in hand as part of a "new work". IANAL.