[Commons-l] Fwd: [WikiEN-l] Cool tool that lets you check forcopyright renewals on books

[geni]

On 4/6/07, Matthew Brown <morven at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/6/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The copyright holder of the book still under copyright would still be
> > the copyright holder thus surely Stewart v. Abend would apply?
>
> I can't see that Stewart v. Abend is really applicable in this
> situation, which is rather different; Stewart v. Abend covers a
> copyrighted work and the details of how rights over a copyrighted work
> pass to the heirs on the author's death and how this affects copyright
> assignments and permission for derivative works.
>
> The scenario I asked about is when two independently copyrighted
> works, where neither is a derivative work of the other, include the
> same image that has not been independently copyrighted.
>
> -Matt

It was the case used to back up the copyright claim on "It's a
Wonderful Life". I would argue that just because a specific copyright
claim has not be renewed that does not mean that the image enters the
public domain. That can only happen if all copyright claims failed to
be renewed.

-- 
geni