Some Books that Aren't in the Public Domain (and why)

ManfredN · Post by **ManfredN** » May 26th, 2011, 11:34 am

Jair wrote:I've been looking for old time radio scripts and wondered about copyright/public domian issues for them. I found this and it's a handy tool for guidance. http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/

From what I understand the shows themselves are all copyright free now due to their age. As to the scripts, someone else will need to enlighten me on that. Btw I also love OTR and listen to the various iTunes channels almost every day!

Samanem · Post by **Samanem** » May 26th, 2011, 12:39 pm

Jair wrote:I've been looking for old time radio scripts and wondered about copyright/public domian issues for them. I found this and it's a handy tool for guidance. http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/

WOW!!! This little gem of a tool is an amazing Godsend for helping organize all the cluttered rules that otherwise would remain cluttered in my head (in which whole segments of my brain that are unfortunately required for understanding copyright law went completely undeveloped during my gestation and formative years).

This deserves a New Topic Announcement of its own, which I may or may not get around to if Jair doesn't do it. If I do it, I will of course give Jair the credit he deserves for finding this. Others may have found it before him, and it may have been discussed here already, but it would've escaped my attention because I generally cease being able to concentrate more than two sentences in to any discussion of copyright issues. That's why Jair's post was so effective for me - two sentences and done!

Well done!!!

Dennis

Cori · Post by **Cori** » May 26th, 2011, 1:50 pm

I'm not sure what the definition of "publish" is for a script ... so I'd be wary of basing a decision solely on the slider (which works well for books first published in the US.)

kattekliek · Post by **kattekliek** » June 14th, 2011, 4:36 am

Steampunk wrote:
tyciol wrote:I hope this isn't overly nosy, but I am curious, would it be possible to make sister sites to LibriVox which are centered in other nations, such as Canada, where the copyrights have already expired?
It's something that has been discussed from time-to-time and generally hailed as a Good Idea. I think the problem is usually finding a hosting site like archive.org outside the US.

We have now started legamus.eu, based in Europe and the +70 rule (author/translator dead >70 years). For the time being we use fileshares in countries where this copyright rule applies, but on the longer run we hope to be able to move the audiofiles to a better place (perhaps with the help of sponsors; a feasible equivalent of archive.org doesn't seem to be available).

montmorency · Post by **montmorency** » September 13th, 2011, 11:12 am

Can I just check the status of Thomas Mann?

I assume that by the date of death rule, none of his books is PD in Germany/Europe, but that in the USA, his early works (i.e. before 1923) are.

There are certainly several of them in Project Gutenberg (e.g. Buddenbrooks, but several others).

But none in Librivox. Is this just because no one has come forward to read any of them?

Post by **chocoholic** » September 13th, 2011, 11:17 am

Yes, that is correct; his works that were published before 1923 are PD in the US (therefore OK for LibriVox) but because he died in 1955, they are still under copyright in countries that have a death+70 yrs copyright law.

And yes, the reason we have none here is that no one has yet recorded them for us.

Most of our German-speaking volunteers live in death+70 countries; that doubtless has a lot to do with it.

edited to add: I see there is one in English on Gutenberg as well.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36028

montmorency · Post by **montmorency** » September 13th, 2011, 12:20 pm

chocoholic wrote:Yes, that is correct; his works that were published before 1923 are PD in the US (therefore OK for LibriVox) but because he died in 1955, they are still under copyright in countries that have a death+70 yrs copyright law.

And yes, the reason we have none here is that no one has yet recorded them for us. Most of our German-speaking volunteers live in death+70 countries; that doubtless has a lot to do with it.

Many thanks. Mind you, there are surely lots of German speakers in the US

edited to add: I see there is one in English on Gutenberg as well.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36028

Indeed, and the corresponding German version.
I might be willing to go for the English one, if there were some volunteers for the corresponding German one (using the "grey area" cover if necessary...).

kelargo · Post by **kelargo** » October 6th, 2011, 10:40 am

Tom Jeffers wrote:Anything by Robert E. Howard legal?

Here is a list. Accuracy of it is unknown, but appears reliable.
http://www.robert-e-howard.org/AnotherThought4rerevised.html

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » October 6th, 2011, 12:58 pm

It does say:

and anyone wishing to pursue the publication of REH works is strongly encouraged to undertake their own research, preferably using the services of either the US Copyright Office staff, or a competent and trained searcher familiar with such searches in the US Copyright Office. A competent legal opinion might be a good idea as well.

So that's us out.

Ruth

berighteous · Post by **berighteous** » November 26th, 2011, 10:38 pm

Has anybody seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk862BbjWx4&feature=relmfu

It's an explanation of how the copyright laws came to be.

von · Post by **von** » January 19th, 2012, 4:02 pm

So, the everlasting man by Chesterton can't be done here on Librivox? I found it on gutenburg Australia.

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » January 19th, 2012, 4:05 pm

Gutenberg Australia observes the copyright law of Australia. LibriVox observes the copyright law of the USA where our files are hosted.

Ruth

sachin · Post by **sachin** » January 27th, 2012, 12:54 pm

Hi all,

I am new to this site and I have a couple of questions.

I wonder, if a multi-volume book called The Sikh Religion, Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, published in 1909, is in the public domain, because it would be great to have a audio version of it. How does one go about finding out if a book is in the public domain? I would have thought that since this book is quite old it would be in the public domain.

Thanks,

Sachin

Post by **TriciaG** » January 27th, 2012, 1:08 pm

Hi, Sachin. I answered in your other thread.

BensonBrunswin · Post by **BensonBrunswin** » March 8th, 2012, 1:44 pm

Does anyone know what the US-PD status of an english translation of Rameau's Nephew by Denis Diderot is?

So far, the only PD translation I've found (though I haven't looked very throughly) is by a canadian professor on Gutenberg Australia, but I'm not sure if that would be good here as well. I know the two countries have different copyright laws, but it seems absurd that there wouldn't be some english version of this available for all - the book was written 250 years ago, for christ sakes.