Which classics fall out of copyright in 2012?

[pholy]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I so wish copyright law was unified, international, and controlled by an international governing body.

Be careful what you wish for! At least right now there are nearly 200 governments for the entertainment industries to buy lobby. Can you imagine how easy it would be if there was only one? WIPO is bad enough, right now.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pholy

...now there are nearly 200 governments for the entertainment industries to buy lobby....

Your strikeout said a mouthful!

[pholy]

Oh d..n, you weren't supposed to see that!

[mikaelalind]

Originally Posted by pholy

Billi - No, the laws state that books enter the public domain on the January 1st following the 70th (50th in Canada) anniversary of the death of the author.

Bummer. I had looked forward to download some of the Edgar Wallace books that Harry T have uploaded. sigh. I guess I'll have to wait another year.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Ankh

That's just ... weird. So, it is OK for me (Canadian, accessing MR from Canada) to download every book on MobileRead, burn it to CD, then send it to a fellow in USA? It is the same thing as him bringing the copies in, isn't it?

As far as I know, it's legal for you to make all the copies you want, and distribute them any way you prefer--just like you could photocopy a book in the public domain and mail the pages to somewhere that's controlled by copyright.

Possibly, you could even charge for this service, as long as you're distributing physical copies of some sort. Just like Amazon can distribute US editions of CDs to countries that would prefer you buy the locally-produced ones, you should be allowed to distribute Canadian editions of public-domain works on CD to US readers.

Afghanistan and Laos both have no copyright laws. I see a business opportunity for anyone bold enough to try it.

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by osnova

Oh, and... society did create these works. The society created the individual and let him develop and live in its environment. It educated him in literature and art. It gave him what to work with.

Does this not also apply to physical property as well?

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

As far as I know, it's legal for you to make all the copies you want, and distribute them any way you prefer--just like you could photocopy a book in the public domain and mail the pages to somewhere that's controlled by copyright.

Oh, I understand that it is legal for me to do copy it and distribute it to my fellow Canadians... the question is, is it legal for the fellow in USA to receive them? Some of the stuff that is in public domain in Canada is NOT in public domain in USA.

How is it illegal for him to download it from Canadian server, but it is legal to physically transfer the copies over the border (which he does when he brings them with him to USA)?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Ankh

How is it illegal for him to download it from Canadian server, but it is legal to physically transfer the copies over the border (which he does when he brings them with him to USA)?

Amazon ships books to places where they're covered by different aspects of copyright law. It sells books that are PD in the US (and therefore printed cheaply) to places where those books are still under copyright.

If it's legal for you to make the disc (and it is); it should be legal to offer to ship to pretty much anywhere in the world, under the same terms that allow Amazon to ship US editions to other countries with their own licensed versions under contract.

(I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.)

Why it's illegal for him to download from the Canadian server: because he's making a copy he's not authorized to make. Once he has a legally-procured disc, he can make copies for personal use (we believe; that hasn't been quite tested in court, but the RIAA cases are promising), but he has no way to *get* a legit copy from a Canadian server.

ETA: Yes, this is stupid.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Does this not also apply to physical property as well?

Lol, good one. That mystical being, society removed from the needs of the individual.

Try to become an ant in your next life.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Ankh

That's just ... weird. So, it is OK for me (Canadian, accessing MR from Canada) to download every book on MobileRead, burn it to CD, then send it to a fellow in USA? It is the same thing as him bringing the copies in, isn't it?

it's legal for you to download, burn and send; it's Illegal for the US citizen to receive it...

(Welcome to the wonderful world of law!)

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Billi

Strictly speaking, I can't do anything with it, as Germany has the 70-year-copyright-law.

Any plans to visit Switzerland?

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by mikaelalind

. . . Edgar Wallace books that Harry T have uploaded. sigh. I guess I'll have to wait another year.

Edgar Wallace the British crime writer? He died in 1932. Allowing that it is terribly easy to make a mistake here, and that I thus welcome any friendly correction, I believe that his works as found on this web site are all public domain in Europe.

[ficbot]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Does this not also apply to physical property as well?

If you want a scary take on that very question, Google 'Monsanto' and read about what they are doing to farmers who purchase (or don't purchase) their genetically modified soybean plants. Basically, even if you don't purchase from them, they can still persecute you if they believe the wind blew some of their plants into your field and contaminated it, thereby giving them a stake in your stuff. Brave new world indeed!

As for the cultural question, the issue is that works are not created in a vacuum. Authors draw on what came before, Just as Gregory Macguire (for instance) used L. Frank Baum's Oz stories as inspiration (and was permitted to do so since they are public domain) so too must his Wicked books eventually enter the public domain to be used by others. It's a social contract. The length of time it will take for this new work to enter the public domain is perhaps debatable, but the underlying social contract behind it is well-entrenched and imho justified.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by ficbot

If you want a scary take on that very question, Google 'Monsanto' . . .

There's a risk that if readers did that, they would happen on biased interest group web sites. Therefore I'd just like to post a mainstream media news story link describing the most publicized instance of the issue you bring up:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

We are talking about a large scale farmer growing, for profit, without paying for the intellectual property, a full square mile of 20-year patented seed in one of the world's most prosperous countries. Not much work in improving seed varieties (including non-GM seed), to increase world food production, will happen if organizations are expected to do it without compensation.

In my view, the moral basis for defending intellectual property patents for people increasing the world food supply is much stronger than the case for super-long copyright of entertainment products. And in cases where food in being grown in large fields, and trained people can tell the variety just by looking at plants, the privacy issues you see with the Stop Online Piracy Act aren't as pressing. So I'm not sure your plant seed patent example really helps make your case.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

We are talking about a large scale farmer growing, for profit, without paying for the intellectual property, a full square mile of 20-year patented seed in one of the world's most prosperous countries.

Actually, we're talking about a farmer whose field was contaminated by Monsanto's seeds and, as per standard practice for at least five thousand years of agriculture, gathered and used the seeds, hopelessly contaminating much of his next crops.