[Foundation-l] [Ticket#: 126217-FW] Emily Dickinson poems

[MHart]

Works published prior to Jan 1, 1923, that had a copyright notice, enter the 
public domain in 75 years. ALL works published prior to 1930 are now in the 
public domain. If they didn't have a copyright notice, then they immediately 
entered the public domain.

However, if a work was NOT published prior to 1930 - for instance, if a work 
was discovered after the author's death and published in 1955, then it is 
subject to to the 1978 copyright law of 28 years from the date of 
publication plus potential renewal of up to 47 more years.

So... if Harvard published the poems in 1955, and they were never previously 
published, then they can potentially have a copyright that lasts until 2030.

Republishing does not generate a new copyright, although new materials 
included in the republished works, such as commentary, are protected.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/howto/copyright-howto

- MHart
- http://taxalmanac.org


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Saintonge" <saintonge at telus.net>
To: "Angela" <beesley at gmail.com>; "Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List" 
<foundation-l at wikimedia.org>; <tanter at tarleton.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 11:06 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] [Ticket#: 126217-FW] Emily Dickinson poems


> Dear Mr. Tanter:
>    You may be pleased to know that Emily Dickinson died in 1886.  What 
> determines the copyright on a work of literature is the date of original 
> publication.  The fact that Harvard University republished some of her 
> poems in 1955 would not give them any copyrights in the poems themselves 
> unless perhaps they included poems that had not been previously published 
> such as in the 1924 edition of her complete works published by Little, 
> Brown and Co.
>
>    We note too that Harvard would have copyrights to any prefaces, 
> introductions, indexes, and editorial notes that may have accompanied 
> their edition.  We sincerely hope that you have not found such materials 
> in our files.  We also sincerely hope that our presentation does not 
> infringe on the arrangement and selection process which Harvard undertook, 
> although I would think that the term "complete" attached to the 1924 
> edition would be self-explanatory.
>
>    I also trust that you have also reviewed the files of the Copyright 
> Office of the Library of Congress to verify that whatever copyrights 
> Harvard may have had were properly renewed in or about 1983.
>
>    I am not personally an Emily Dickinson scholar, nor was I a party to 
> the posting of these poems.  That certainly puts me at a disadvantage in 
> the face of someone such as you, whose scholarship is evidently more 
> familiar with that corpus of works.  That being said, we look forward to 
> your response identifying precisely which poems are identical copies of 
> the Harvard poems without being identical to those found in any earlier 
> edition.  We would be glad to make any adjustment to ensure that our 
> version of the poems conforms to the earlier version.
>    Should this response not be satisfactory, and you believe that the 
> material should be the subject of a take down order, please note that such 
> an order requires that you indicate a statement of your legal standing in 
> this matter in relation to either Miss Dickinson or Harvard University.
>
>    Yours very truly,
>    Ray Saintonge
>    a Wikisource editor
>
> Angela wrote:
>
>>I'm forwarding this to Foundation-l since Wikisource has no list of
>>its own yet. Is anyone able to help with this issue or provide
>>comments on it please?
>>
>>Angela
>>
>>---- Forwarded message from tanter <tanter at tarleton.edu> ----
>>
>>Date: From: tanter
>>To: board
>>Cc: Reply-To: Subject: [Ticket#: 126217-FW] Emily Dickinson poems
>>>Hello.  On your site, you have posted poems by Emily Dickinson at this
>>>URL:
>>>http://wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Emily_Dickinson.  You need to be aware
>>>that these poems are NOT in the public domain.  Harvard University owns 
>>>the copyright to all of Emily Dickinson's poems published in the 1955 and
>>>later editions of her poetry.  The editions from the 1890s are public 
>>>domain
>>>but the ones you seem to have posted are from the Harvard edition. I 
>>>haven't had
>>>time to go through them all, but I suggest you have an editor review this
>>>because you may be violating copyright.
>>>
>>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at wikimedia.org
> http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l