[Wikipedia-l] Fwd: Copyright Determinator

[phoebe ayers]

Perhaps of interest to Wikipedians, Wikisourcians, or those tracing the
tangled web of U.S. Copyright.
-- phoebe

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> Stanford Report, April 2, 2007
> Database of copyright renewal records launched
> http://collections.stanford.edu/determinator/

> An online database that enables people to search copyright-renewal records
> for books published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 has been
> launched by Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information
> Resources (SULAIR).
>
> SULAIR developed the Copyright Renewal Database, dubbed the "Copyright
> Determinator," with a grant from the Hewlett Foundation.  The effort built
> on Project Gutenberg's transcriptions of the Catalog of Copyright Entries,
> which was published by the U.S. Copyright Office. (Project
> Gutenberg-http://www.gutenberg.org/-;produces free electronic books.)
>
> "This database is an important tool for anyone researching the copyright
> status of U.S. works," said Stanford attorney Lauren Schoenthaler. "Having
> a single, electronic source for all renewals for these works will greatly
> speed the research process."
>
> Determining the copyright status of books has become a pressing issue as
> libraries and businesses develop plans to digitize materials and make
> works in the public domain widely available. In order to appropriately
> select books for digitization, these organizations need to determine
> efficiently and with some certainty the copyright status of each work in a
> large collection. The Determinator supports this process, bringing all
> 1923-1963 book-renewal records together in a single database and, more
> significantly, making searchable renewal records that had previously been
> distributed only in print.
>
> U.S. works published from 1923 to 1963 are the only group of works for
> which renewal is now a concern. Renewals have expired for works published
> before 1923, and they are generally in the public domain.  The 1976
> Copyright Act made renewal automatic for works published after Jan. 1,
> 1964. Determining the renewal status of works published between 1923 and
> 1963 has been a challenge; the Copyright Office received renewals as early
> as 1950, but only records received by that office after 1977 are available
> in electronic form. Renewals received between 1950 and 1977 were announced
> and distributed only in a semi-annual print publication. For the
> Determinator databases, Stanford has converted the print records to
> machine-readable form and combined them with the electronic renewal
> records from the Copyright Office.
>
> SULAIR continues to refine the database and welcomes feedback.  Contact
> Mimi Calter at mcalter at stanford.edu with questions or comments.