Articles Tagged with copyright

For an interesting view of how complex copyright law has become, see the following, keeping in mind that Mark Twain’s Autobiography has this back-story, from the Mark Twain Papers and Project:

“…At the time of his death in 1910, Mark Twain left his last major literary work—an autobiography—unpublished and stipulated that the entire unexpurgated work should not be issued for at least a hundred years after his death. In November 2010, the year that marks the centenary of Twain’s death, UC Press has issued the first volume of a complete three-volume critical edition of the autobiography, edited by the staff of the Mark Twain Project. A digital edition with a complete textual apparatus—not included in the print version—is available at the Mark Twain Project Online….” (Link to full website.)

Read on …:

Copyright Law and Mark Twain’s Autobiography (from LibraryLaw):

Public Domain:

Just when you think you figured out when a document was in the public domain, and no longer copyrighted, your instincts tell you to keep searching. From the May 8, 2010, LibraryLaw blog: The search for the oldest copyrighted work in the U.S. goes on…

Excerpt: “I knew when I wrote my post speculating as to what is the oldest work still protected by copyright in the U.S. that I was likely to get it wrong. Copyright is just too complicated for anyone to get right the first time around…

The January 13, 2010 Library Link of the Day featured this interesting story from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain:

What Could Have Been Entering the Public Domain on January 1, 2010? Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1953

Excerpt: “…What might you be able to read or print online, quote as much as you want, or translate, republish or make a play or a movie from? How about Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel? Fleming published Casino Royale in 1953. If we were still under the copyright laws that were in effect until 1978, ….
….
Agatha Christie’s, A Pocket Full of Rye
Saul Bellow’s, The Adventures of Augie March
Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451
John Hunt’s, The Ascent of Everest
C.S. Lewis’s, The Silver Chair (the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia)
J.D. Salinger’s, Nine Stories
Leon Uris’s, Battle Cry
James Baldwin’s, Go Tell It On the Mountain
Ira Levin’s, A Kiss Before Dying ….” (link to full story and website)

Add these to thoughts (and blog posts) on the theory and reality of Free:

1) Larry Lessig: A Call for Copyright Rebellion, November 6, 2009 (Inside Higher Ed)

2) William Patry, Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars (author blog)