Great Gatsby and Kindle

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by 3bayjunkie

anything prior 1928 are mostly free. there are 16,000+ free books for kindle

That's 1923, not 1928.

[screwballl]

US copyright

Published since 1978: 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation whichever is shorter (anonymous works, pseudonymous works, or works made for hire)

Published 1964–1977: 95 years from publication, 28 if copyright not renewed

Published 1923-1963: 95 years from publication

Copyrights prior to 1923 have expired.


As for the Great Gatsby, since it was published 1925 + copyright renewal, the earliest it would expire would be 2020, possibly 2048 or later if the renewal filed in 1953 stands, even though the work was published before the new renewal laws that took place in 1964.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by screwballl

US copyright

Yes, the real rules are complicated, and it is easy to make a mistake. For example, I now notice that what I said in #7 about Australia was inaccurate, since although it is currently a death + 70 country, if the author died before 1955, as in the F. Scott Fitzgerald case, death + 50 applies.

American publishers and authors generally remember to renew their copyrights, allowing us to make a shorthand statement that post 1922 works are under US copyright. As for as books now in print falling out of US copyright, experience is that the law will change rather than this happening. The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923, and the lobbyists of whomever owns their copyrights will battle to push up the 105 year, protection currently in place for works published since 1978, to apply to earlier works. So prospects for much of anything now under US copyright coming out are poor. Or am I paranoid?

[OtterBooks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's 1923, not 1928.

But I had to read it in school. It must be a classic and hence, public domain. Duh.

Actually I thought it was 1928, too.