[Wikipedia-l] some questions concerning copyright

[Lars Aronsson]

elian wrote:
> Next question: what's the exact date before which works are copyright
> free in the U.S.? Does US-law apply for German books, scanned in Germany
> and put on a server in the US or do we have to ensure that they are
> copyright free in both countries? German law is "70 years after the death
> of the author".
>
> PS: I heard something about a lawsuit Eldrigde vs. Ashcroft at the
> Supreme Court - will Mickey Mouse law finally be abolished?

That is Eldred v. Ashcroft, http://eldred.cc/

The current U.S. law makes everything published before 1922 free,
while the European law makes everything free when 70 years have passed
after the *year* of death of the last creator (Urheber).  If the
Ashcroft side wins the current case, I think the U.S. law will be the
same as the European laws, but I'm not sure about this.  To be safe,
you would be wise to follow both laws.  On the other hand, perhaps
there is no reason to be paranoid.  I'm not a lawyer.

Note that some works are free of copyright, such as law text and some
other official government documents.  Works that are published with no
named creator (e.g. a T-Ford owner's manual) is free when 70 years
have passed after the year of publication.  Works with many creators
(e.g. writer + translator) are owned by all creators together, so a
translation into modern German of the Niebelungenlied can be
copyrighted by the translator.  The old Icelandic book Heimskringla
has a free English translation made in 1844, which is available
online, but more recent English translations are copyrighted,
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimskringla

Wikipedia is a very good place to keep track of the death year of
various authors and translators.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik
  Teknikringen 1e, SE-583 30 Linuxköping, Sweden
  tel +46-70-7891609
  http://aronsson.se/ http://elektrosmog.nu/ http://susning.nu/