Hi all, Andrew has a good point. This is probably the case in a lot of other places. It's my understanding that the United States copyright changes that removed the requirements for registration and notice of copyright were made in large part because most other countries didn't have the same requirements. Fact is, though, that books published in the United States as late as February 1989 may have entered the public domain if they did not bear the copyright notice. Here's what the copyright office says: "Notice was required under the 1976 Copyright Act. This requirement was eliminated when the United States adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989. Although works published without notice before that date could have entered the public domain in the United States, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) restores copyright in certain foreign works originally published without notice." and "U. S. works in the public domain on January 1, 1978, (for example, works published without satisfying all conditions for securing federal copyright under the Copyright Act of 1909) remain in the public domain under the 1976 Copyright Act. " Mike At 12:31 PM 3/25/00 +1100, Andrew Billinghurst wrote: >Mike, > >I think that the one important disclaimer that needs to be added to >your post is that they book would have to have been published in the >United States. Books published in Australia, the UK and the like I >believe basically (if that word can ever be used with copyright law!) >work off the plain 50 years after the death of the author. Maybe I >mean in simple straightforward circumstances. > >Regards Andrew > >On 22 Mar 2000, at 22:10, Mike Goad <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > Here's an angle that I don't think has been discussed here. > > > > A distant relative was born in 1893 and published a genealogy in 1959. > > Sometime between 1959 and now, the author passed away. > > > > A couple of weeks ago a person on the mailing list for that surname > > came across a photo-copy of the entire book. It's not her direct > > line, so she offered to give it to anyone who can put a use to it. > > It's not my direct line, but I collect any and all information that I > > can on that line, so I told her that if no one else was interested, > > that I was. So she sent it to me. > > > > Now to throw a twist into it, another gentleman wrote and published a > > genealogy in the 1970s. For one branch of the family, he used the > > information word for word from the earlier 1959 work. This gentleman > > has given his permission for me to publish any of the material that I > > want from his 1970s book. > > > > Questions: > > > > 1. Am I infringing to have a photo copy of the 1959 book? > > 2. Was the lady that sent it to me infringing? > > 3. Did the gentleman who published the 1970s book infringe on the > > copyright of the 1959 book? 4. Am I infringing if I publish the > > material from the 1970s book that was copied from the 1959 book? > > > > The answers are: 1. No 2. No 3. No and 4. No > > > > The 1959 book is not protected under copyright law. The author > > published the book without registering it with the copyright office > > and without including a copyright notice. Before 1976, copyrighted > > works had to be registered and were required to carry a copyright > > notice. Lack of a copyright notice indicated lack of copyright > > protection. The book has been in the public domain since it was first > > published. > > > > http://www.rootsweb.com/~mikegoad/html/copyright11.htm > > > > Example: Just because a published book is dated 1975 doesn't mean its > > protected under copyright. If it doesn't bear the copyright symbol > > and have the copyright statement, it didn't satisfy the copyright > > requirements and, thus, is not protected today. > > > > Note: If a work was written before 1976, but was or is unpublished, > > it IS protected. It IS copyrighted. > > > > Mike > >-- >Andrew Billinghurst >* Have you got your free webpages at http://freepages.rootsweb.com ? >* Find out how at http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/press/freepages.html