I haven't seen any mention on this list of this recent news:
This year The Diary of Anne Frank entered into the public domain in the Netherlands, allowing millions of people around the world to read it for free. However, under U.S. law the book remains copyrighted, which prompted the Wikimedia Foundation to remove a copy of the book from its servers, under protest.
It's worth noting, if only to increase awareness of the excessive length (95 years) of some US copyright terms.
Some people outside the Wiki world have noticed: see blog post here: https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-copyright-law-forces-wikimedia-to-remove-public...
Michael
The situation concerning the copyright on Anne Frank's writings is quite complex - and it is not just US copyright which is causing problems.
There appears to be some consensus that the Dutch text of the diary as first published in 1947 is now in the public domain in the Netherlands. But writings by Anne first published in 1986 remain under copyright until 2036.
However, the current holder of the copyright, the Anne Frank Fund in Switzerland, is claiming that Anne's father should be considered a co-author of the original diary. This would extend copyright until 2050, 70 years after his death. Some experts in copyright-law feel this could be a valid argument, but the claim has sofar not been confirmed by any court. Experts on the writings of Anne Frank tend to dismiss it. Still, the National Library of the Netherlands has already removed the text of the diary from their digital library http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/fran034acht01_01/ at the request of the Anne Frank Fund.
Wikimedia Nederland is exploring what can be done to keep this very important book in the public domain.
Sandra Rientjes Directeur/Executive Director Wikimedia Nederland
tel. (+31) (0)30 3200238 mob. (+31) (0)6 31786379
www.wikimedia.nl
*Postadres*: * Bezoekadres:* Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3 3500 AD Utrecht Utrecht
2016-02-16 15:43 GMT+01:00 Michael Maggs Michael@maggs.name:
I haven't seen any mention on this list of this recent news:
This year The Diary of Anne Frank entered into the public domain in the Netherlands, allowing millions of people around the world to read it for free. However, under U.S. law the book remains copyrighted, which prompted the Wikimedia Foundation to remove a copy of the book from its servers, under protest.
It's worth noting, if only to increase awareness of the excessive length (95 years) of some US copyright terms.
Some people outside the Wiki world have noticed: see blog post here: https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-copyright-law-forces-wikimedia-to-remove-public...
Michael _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Thank you, Sandra.
So long as a court has not ruled, it is important to not give up without a fight.
A.
On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 7:22 AM, Sandra Rientjes - Wikimedia Nederland < rientjes@wikimedia.nl> wrote:
The situation concerning the copyright on Anne Frank's writings is quite complex - and it is not just US copyright which is causing problems.
There appears to be some consensus that the Dutch text of the diary as first published in 1947 is now in the public domain in the Netherlands. But writings by Anne first published in 1986 remain under copyright until 2036.
However, the current holder of the copyright, the Anne Frank Fund in Switzerland, is claiming that Anne's father should be considered a co-author of the original diary. This would extend copyright until 2050, 70 years after his death. Some experts in copyright-law feel this could be a valid argument, but the claim has sofar not been confirmed by any court. Experts on the writings of Anne Frank tend to dismiss it. Still, the National Library of the Netherlands has already removed the text of the diary from their digital library http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/fran034acht01_01/ at the request of the Anne Frank Fund.
Wikimedia Nederland is exploring what can be done to keep this very important book in the public domain.
Sandra Rientjes Directeur/Executive Director Wikimedia Nederland
tel. (+31) (0)30 3200238 mob. (+31) (0)6 31786379
www.wikimedia.nl
*Postadres*: * Bezoekadres:* Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3 3500 AD Utrecht Utrecht
2016-02-16 15:43 GMT+01:00 Michael Maggs Michael@maggs.name:
I haven't seen any mention on this list of this recent news:
This year The Diary of Anne Frank entered into the public domain in the Netherlands, allowing millions of people around the world to read it for free. However, under U.S. law the book remains copyrighted, which prompted the Wikimedia Foundation to remove a copy of the book from its servers, under protest.
It's worth noting, if only to increase awareness of the excessive length (95 years) of some US copyright terms.
Some people outside the Wiki world have noticed: see blog post here:
https://torrentfreak.com/u-s-copyright-law-forces-wikimedia-to-remove-public...
Michael _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
On 16 February 2016 at 14:43, Michael Maggs Michael@maggs.name wrote:
It's worth noting, if only to increase awareness of the excessive length (95 years) of some US copyright terms.
Thats hardly a US only thing though. The Leni Riefenstahl (yes that one) film The Blue Light will have a 141 year copyright term.
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org