Finding out if the copyright has expired on a book

by Lady Lee 4 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Lady Lee

  I have a 1952 copy of The True Believer. What a book! If you haven't read it then find a copy and start reading.

  My book is almost 60 years old and if falling apart so I wanted to know if it was in public domain yet. Perhaps someone had put it on the internet as a pdf file.

  So doing a search I found this site for US copyright renewals

  You can do a search on an older book title to see if the copyright has expired or been renewed. If it has not been renewed then it is in public domain and free for the use of anybody - although if you are quoting from it you should still give the reference - title, author and page nuimber at the bare minimum.

  I'm still looking for lists from other countries
• 

  tec

  As far as I know, until the author(s) of a book dies (plus so many years after their death) the copyright is in effect. I can't remember how many years afterward though, sorry. I'll see if I can look it up.

  Tammy
• 

  littlerockguy

  What if the copywrite renewal is 30 years old? I'm interested in who owns the copywrite to Taylor Caldwell's books who she left her estate to plus other books that she had written and are yet unpublished. I read somewhere that some company was interested or was going to purchase copywrites from her estate and in the article it mentioned she had works unpublished and most of her books are out of print now except a few of her most popular novels.

  LRG
• 

  tec

  Well, roughly a hundred years anyway. Life of the author, plus 50 - 70 years, depending on the country I think. Some exceptions - but I don't know what those are -and they're probably a case by case basis.

  Tammy
• 

  Lady Lee

  List of countries' copyright length

  The Life + 50-70 years does not apply to all works. That applies to never published works where the author has been dead since before 1940

  Here is the table for published works from http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

  Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States 1 January 2010 1
  Never Published, Never Registered Works 2
  Type of Work	Copyright Term	What was in the public domain in the U.S. as of 1 January 20103
  Unpublished works	Life of the author + 70 years	Works from authors who died before 1940
  Unpublished anonymous and pseudonymous works, and works made for hire (corporate authorship)	120 years from date of creation	Works created before 1890
  Unpublished works when the death date of the author is not known 4	120 years from date of creation 5	Works created before 1890 5
  Works Registered or First Published in the U.S.
  Date of Publication 6	Conditions 7	Copyright Term 3
  Before 1923	None	None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration
  1923 through 1977	Published without a copyright notice	None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities
  1978 to 1 March 1989	Published without notice, and without subsequent registration within 5 years	None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities
  1978 to 1 March 1989	Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years	70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first
  1923 through 1963	Published with notice but copyright was not renewed 8	None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration
  1923 through 1963	Published with notice and the copyright was renewed 8	95 years after publication date
  1964 through 1977	Published with notice	95 years after publication date
  1978 to 1 March 1989	Created after 1977 and published with notice	70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first
  1978 to 1 March 1989	Created before 1978 and first published with notice in the specified period	The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047
  From 1 March 1989 through 2002	Created after 1977	70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first
  From 1 March 1989 through 2002	Created before 1978 and first published in this period	The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047
  After 2002	None	70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first
  Anytime	Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. 21	None. In the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105)
  Works First Published Outside the U.S. by Foreign Nationals or U.S. Citizens Living Abroad 9
  Date of Publication	Conditions	Copyright Term in the United States
  Before 1923	None	In the public domain (But see first special case below)
  Works Published Abroad Before 1978 10
  1923 through 1977	Published without compliance with US formalities, and in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) 20	In the public domain
  1923 through 1977	Published in compliance with all US formalities (i.e., notice, renewal) 11	95 years after publication date
  1923 through 1977	Solely published abroad, without compliance with US formalities or republication in the US , and not in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases)	95 years after publication date
  1923 through 1977	Published in the US less than 30 days after publication abroad	Use the US publication chart to determine duration
  1923 through 1977	Published in the US more than 30 days after publication abroad, without compliance with US formalities, and not in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases)	95 years after publication date
  Works Published Abroad After 1 January 1978
  After 1 January 1978	Published without copyright notice, and in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) 20	In the public domain
  After 1 January 1978	Published either with or without copyright notice, and not in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases)	70 years after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication
  Special Cases
  1 July 1909 through 1978	In Alaska , Arizona , California , Hawaii , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , Oregon , Washington , Guam , and the Northern Mariana Islands ONLY. Published in a language other than English, and without subsequent republication with a copyright notice 12	Treat as an unpublished work until such date as first US-compliant publication occurred
  Before 19 Aug. 1954	Published by a Laotian in Laos 18	In the public domain
  Between 18 Aug. 1954 and 3 Dec. 1975	Published by a Laotian in Laos 18	Use the US publication chart to determine duration
  Prior to 27 May 1973	Published by a national of Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan in either country 19	In the public domain
  After 26 May 1973	Published by a national of Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan in either country 19	May be protected under the UCC
  Anytime	Created by a resident of Afghanistan , Eritrea , Ethiopia , Iran , Iraq , or San Marino , and published in one of these countries 13	Not protected by US copyright law until they become party to bilateral orinternational copyright agreements
  Anytime	Works whose copyright was once owned or administered by the Alien Property Custodian, and whose copyright, if restored, would as of January 1, 1996 , be owned by a government 14	Not protected by US copyright law
  Anytime	If published in one of the following countries, the 1 January 1996 date given above is replaced by the date of the country's membership in the Berne Convention or the World Trade Organization, whichever is earlier: Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bhutan, Cambodia, Comoros, Jordan, Korea, Democratic People's Republic, Micronesia, Montenegro, Nepal, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Qatar, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen