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International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 3:02 pm
by johnnyenglish
Sorry!

Not sure where else to post this - but I am SERIOUSLY confused about copyright expiration...

Yanks say one thing, Brit's say another - and I don't actually understand what anyone else says!
(Yes - I am THAT thick! Can't speak any other languages! Have a hard time with American, to be honest!)

Read this:

https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p10_duration

Comments?

(I want to do evertang 'above-board' and smiley - but who's rules are we s'posed to follow?)

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 3:07 pm
by TriciaG
Moved to "Need Help? Got Advice?" ;)

Now I'll take a look at your post.

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 3:09 pm
by TriciaG
As someone in England, for LibriVox, you must follow both the UK and the US copyright laws.

For you in England, you follow UK.
LV follows US law, so we don't accept anything out of copyright in the UK but still copyrighted in the US.

So, in general, published in 1923 or earlier (95 full years as of Jan 1st - US law), AND the author died before 1948 (70 full years as of Jan 1st - UK law).

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 3:11 pm
by tovarisch
What Tricia says. And...

There is no such thing as "International copyright".

Edited to add: There is such a thing as The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, but each country has its own law that might or might not be stricter than others (in some aspects).

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 3:54 pm
by johnnyenglish
Do you think that they could make it any more confusing?
(If they tried REALLY hard - I mean! :D )

'Kay, 'nother questiion. If it is on Gutenberg - can I do it?

(As a writer myself, I have DEEP DEEP respect for the author's copyright to his/her work,
please don't get me wrong. But I don't understand why it is okay for LibriVox to post
works by Edgar Rice Burroughs, or H. G. Wells or... whoever - but I am not allowed to
join in? The U.K. restrictions appear to be far less... restrictive, than U.S. law.)

I don't want to piss anyone off - but there are so many LOVELY stories out there!

And I don't appear to be allowed to do them... :(

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 4:18 pm
by lymiewithpurpose
I am not as knowledgable on this subject as others, but here is my understanding. All of LibriVox's recordings are hosted on a US server. Therefore, we must follow US copyright laws (published before 1924). And for those of us who live in the US, that's all we need to worry about. However, for those of you outside the US, you also have your own copyright laws to deal with. You can't download or record anything not in the public domain for you. I am not too aware about how Gutenberg works. There may be different Gutenbergs for different countries, so you can see public domain texts in your country. May be totally wrong. Again, it is important that you just check the two things. Is it published before 1924? And has the author died before 1948 (for your country as Tricia pointed out)? If the two answers are both yes you should be good to go!

I am sure somebody will come correct me if I am wrong. Hope that helps!

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 4:27 pm
by TriciaG
Gutenberg.org is also US-based, so if the Copyright Status in the "bibrec" tab says it's Public Domain, then that's in the USA. (I think it actually says "Public Domain in the USA".) You'd also need to check the death date of the author and translator, if there's a translator.

I feel your pain. I would love to listen to and record Wodehouse, but he's not PD for me. :(

The rest of the world is more straightforward and often less restrictive than US law, yes. There are exceptions - there are some works PD in the UK that aren't PD in the USA - works published after 1923 where the author died conveniently early. But it does seem like the EU/UK and other Life+ countries have more to work with... and the law is less convoluted and complicated for us than it is in the US.

(Lymie - there's a gutenberg.au that has works PD in Australia, and FadedPage.org which has works PD in Canada, but I don't believe there's a Gutenberg-like site for the EU.)

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 4:28 pm
by lymiewithpurpose
TriciaG wrote: May 7th, 2019, 4:27 pm Lymie - there's a gutenberg.au that has works PD in Australia, and FadedPage.org which has works PD in Canada, but I don't believe there's a Gutenberg-like site for the EU.
Ah, gotcha. That must be what I was thinking of. Thanks for the clarification :D

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 4:44 pm
by johnnyenglish
Ah... Right... That clears that up then! :D

I'm just gonna record whatever the 'f' I want...

If it's illegal - 'f'ing delete it! :wink:

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 4:57 pm
by johnnyenglish
PS: I'm a 'good boy' - (I love Terry Pratchett!)

If you don't understand that reference...

Erm...

Bye! :D

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 5:03 pm
by tovarisch
Tricia, I think there is "Legamus.eu", which is not exactly an analog of Gutenberg.org, but it has some texts...

Johnny, the problem is that if you want to publish stuff through LV, you're gonna run into strict admins, who are in charge of the well-being of the LV community. Here they/we/you follow the rules, or else. As to the 'f', sure, record what you want and publish it at your own risk somehow, somewhe-e-e-ere... :wink:

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 5:19 pm
by johnnyenglish
Sweet! :D

Nil Problemo - I was just hoping to do some stuff here 'cos 'Ice Queen' has been so helpful and supportive - and I WILL - if I
can find anything that Englishmen are allowed to record!

Not trying to piss anyome off - honest! :wink:

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 7th, 2019, 5:22 pm
by TriciaG
tovarisch wrote: May 7th, 2019, 5:03 pm Tricia, I think there is "Legamus.eu", which is not exactly an analog of Gutenberg.org, but it has some texts...
Legamus is the sister site of LibriVox. It records books not PD in the USA, but that are PD in Life+70 countries. As far as I know, they don't host texts, just recordings that can't be done here. :)

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 8th, 2019, 12:07 am
by moniaqua
TriciaG wrote: May 7th, 2019, 4:27 pm I would love to listen to and record Wodehouse, but he's not PD for me.
If you move to Canada or Australia, it's only about 7 years to wait ;)
TriciaG wrote: May 7th, 2019, 4:27 pm but I don't believe there's a Gutenberg-like site for the EU
There used to be one. I don't know if it's still active; there are so many works still to do following US-law that a lot of EU residents work for gutenberg on pgdp.net. In Germany exists gutenberg.spiegel.de (only German books) but the books on gutenberg.org are better; on spiegel they don't seem to do rounds and it's html only.

@johnnyenglish actually we are better off in EU because the works we may do and US residents may not are getting more, and the works US residents may do but we aren't allowed are becoming less. And for me it seems way easier to find an author's death date than to understand US copyright for works published after 1923 :?

Re: International copyright

Posted: May 8th, 2019, 3:02 am
by johnnyenglish
Actually, thinking about it - it's even easier than that.

The rule I shall adhere to is - if it's not on Gutenberg - leave it alone!

Here's another question for y'all. This may seem a bit out there, or off the wall,
but it is a genuine question - promise!

Do false teeth help one with pronunciation?

(Some of these older stories can be a little difficult to wrap your gums around, I find! :P )