eBooks We Need

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Do you know what I want as an ebook?

Idiot's Guide to Anthropophagy


P.S. This was a joke.

How about a copy of "To Serve Man"???

Hint: It's a cookbook...

Xenophon

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

How about a copy of "To Serve Man"???

Hint: It's a cookbook...

Xenophon

but, Xenophon, is it available as an e-book ??

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Xenophon

How about a copy of "To Serve Man"???

Hint: It's a cookbook...

Xenophon

I was going to do a list of books, and that was on it. Another title would have been "Selected Recipes of the Sierra Nevadas" by George Donner. Also "The Uruguayan Air Force Cookbook". But then I decided to go for the simple and obscure. That's how my sense of humor works. Plus, some of the titles were unfair.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I was going to do a list of books, and that was on it. Another title would have been "Selected Recipes of the Sierra Nevadas" by George Donner. Also "The Uruguayan Air Force Cookbook". But then I decided to go for the simple and obscure. That's how my sense of humor works. Plus, some of the titles were unfair.

Nah .... I think having a book by Alfred Packer would go further than one by George Donner. (This despite the fact that his family's name was the one associated with the ill-fated group. As I recall, he was not one of the people actually accused of cannibalism.)

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

There are works recently gone into the public domain in (life + 50) countries that I would be willing to do the work on, but I'm legally bound to do nothing on them for the rest of my life...

Coming soon to public domain in life + 50 countries.

James Branch Cabell (Jan 1, 2009)

Such as? An awful lot of Cabell is already available.

Henry Kuttner (Jan 1, 2009)

A fair bit of Kuttner, too. I have _the Dark World_, _The Time Axis_, _The Valley of the Flame_, and _The Creature from Beyond Infinity_ here.

Lester Dent (80% of the Doc Savages written)
(Jan 1, 2010)

They used to be available. So did The Shadow. I think I have them all.

Raymond Chandler (Jan 1, 2010)
Ernest Hemmingway (Jan 1, 2012)

It would be nice to see these folks, however.
______
Dennis

[zelda_pinwheel]

oh, Raymond Chandler, yes please !!!

[Nate the great]

A note about Doc Savage:

They are not in the public domain. The files had previously been hosted on PG Australia because the admin had turned a blind eye.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

A note about Doc Savage:

They are not in the public domain. The files had previously been hosted on PG Australia because the admin had turned a blind eye.

Nate, this brings in a piece of copyright law that I'm not fully knowledgeable about. How do works for hire copyright length get set? Particularly in a life + 50 country? Since Laurence Donovan died in 1950, life + 50 should be 2000 (i.e.public domain in a life + 50 country). How is that being overridden? (anybody else who knows the answer, please chime in.) RSE

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Nate, this brings in a piece of copyright law that I'm not fully knowledgeable about. How do works for hire copyright length get set? Particularly in a life + 50 country? Since Laurence Donovan died in 1950, life + 50 should be 2000 (i.e.public domain in a life + 50 country). How is that being overridden? (anybody else who knows the answer, please chime in.) RSE

There are different rules when an entity (corporation, etc) owns a copyright. In this case it is based on the date the item was first published. From the US Government copyright FAQ:

For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.

Other countries may be different.

BOb

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

There are different rules when an entity (corporation, etc) owns a copyright. In this case it is based on the date the item was first published. From the US Government copyright FAQ:

For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.

Other countries may be different.

BOb

Thanks mucho, PilotBOb. The Mickey Mouse act of the late 90's suddenly became clear! 1999 - 70 was 1929, when Talkies first came available in Hollyweird. The pulps were just "collateral damage" for saving the copyrights on all the Talkies that hadn't accidentally fallen into the public domain due to their renewals not being properly filed....

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Nate, this brings in a piece of copyright law that I'm not fully knowledgeable about. How do works for hire copyright length get set? Particularly in a life + 50 country? Since Laurence Donovan died in 1950, life + 50 should be 2000 (i.e.public domain in a life + 50 country). How is that being overridden? (anybody else who knows the answer, please chime in.) RSE

I had to go look it up again, and I don't think Commonwealth countries have a work for hire rule. I've found anonymous author rules, but that's not the same thing. Pilotbob is correct on the years.

BTW, not all the Doc Savage novels are work for hire in the US. I know of at least once that Conde Nast, the copyright holder, bought the copyright from an author's widow. I don't think any of the books are work for hire.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I had to go look it up again, and I don't think Commonwealth countries have a work for hire rule. I've found anonymous author rules, but that's not the same thing. Pilotbob is correct on the years.

BTW, not all the Doc Savage novels are work for hire in the US. I know of at least once that Conde Nast, the copyright holder, bought the copyright from an author's widow. I don't think any of the books are work for hire.

Which loops me back to where I started. If a Doc Savage novel was written by author X, what controls the public domain date in a life + 50 country. (I looked at the Canadian law web site, which implied either 50 years after the publication (Psuedonemus works) or author's life + 50 years. Laurence Donovan died in 1950, Harold A. Davis died in 1955, and Lester Dent died in 1959. The others died much later or are currently undetermined.) Are there overriding treaty agreements with the US?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Which loops me back to where I started. If a Doc Savage novel was written by author X, what controls the public domain date in a life + 50 country. (I looked at the Canadian law web site, which implied either 50 years after the publication (Pseudonymous works) or author's life + 50 years. Laurence Donovan died in 1950, Harold A. Davis died in 1955, and Lester Dent died in 1959. The others died much later or are currently undetermined.) Are there overriding treaty agreements with the US?

In Canada, the pd date is the year the author died +51. For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder died in 1957. On 1 January 2008 her works entered the public domain in Canada.

Since Canada is a strict death+50, so the first two are out of copyright in Canada right now. We can host their works here at MobileRead if someone will upload it. The third author's work will become pd on 1 January, 2010.

Australia is the same except for the thirds author. The Dent works have a copyright of death+70 because of a 2006 treaty signed with the USA.

P.S. Just because the work is still in copyright in the US doesn't mean it is in other countries.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

In Canada, the pd date is the year the author died +51. For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder died in 1957. On 1 January 2008 her works entered the public domain in Canada.

Since Canada is a strict death+50, so the first two are out of copyright in Canada right now. We can host their works here at MobileRead if someone will upload it. The third author's work will become pd on 1 January, 2010.

Australia is the same except for the thirds author. The Dent works have a copyright of death+70 because of a 2006 treaty signed with the USA.

P.S. Just because the work is still in copyright in the US doesn't mean it is in other countries.

Thanks, Nate. I can't do the work, as I live in the land of the Mouse, but my list of Coming Soon is still valid.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Thanks, Nate. I can't do the work, as I live in the land of the Mouse, but my list of Coming Soon is still valid.

That's actually an interesting question.

You live in the US, where a work is still in copyright. It's out of copyright elsewhere, and you find an electronic copy, which you massage into a form usable by MobileRead visitors. You upload it for posting, and it gets stored on a server where the copyright has expired and it's a legal download.

How much trouble can you be in for having done the conversion? And who would be likely to go after you for having done it?

I'd be more worried about possible dangers to MobileRead for accepting work from from me in that case than I'd be about getting in trouble for doing it.

Copyright infringement suits presume damage in the form of lost revenues from the infringement, and take time and cost money to prosecute. Someone would have to see real potential losses to bother.

I'm not sure I'd let living in the US deter me from doing the work.
______
Dennis