"I can tell that these manuscripts were just printed up on his own--which would make it in the public domain" Please keep in mind that an item does not have to be formerly "published" to have copyright. Please take a look at http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm which is a site that archivists consult and in maintained by one of the leaders in our field. Mary Mannix -- Mary K. Mannix Maryland Room Manager C. Burr Artz Public Library Frederick County Public Libraries Frederick, MD

You need to re-read it. This apply only to those whose printed copyrights ALREADY IN EFFECT, not yet lapsed by 1978 when the ratification of Berne Treaty went into effect as well as all new ones thereafters. If the copyright notice was printed in old books and the periods expire BEFORE 1978 and NOT renewed, they go into public domain. David Samuelsen Mary K. Mannix wrote: > "I can tell that these manuscripts were just printed up on his > own--which would make it in the public domain" > > Please keep in mind that an item does not have to be formerly > "published" to have copyright. Please take a look at > > http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm > > which is a site that archivists consult and in maintained by one of > the leaders in our field. > > Mary Mannix > > -- > Mary K. Mannix > Maryland Room Manager > C. Burr Artz Public Library > Frederick County Public Libraries > Frederick, MD > > > ==== COPYRIGHT Mailing List ==== > LATIN-WORDS-L is a mailing list for anyone with a genealogical or historical interest in deciphering and interpreting written documents in Latin from earliest to most recent 20th Century times, and discussing old Latin words, phrases, names, abbreviations and antique jargon. To subscribe, send subscribe to mailto:LATIN-WORDS-L-request@rootsweb.com (Mail Mode) or mailto:LATIN-WORDS-D-request@rootsweb.com (Digest Mode) > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > > >

On Jan 20, I wrote: "Unpublished works originating in 1885 (examples would be manuscripts and photos) went into the public domain in 2006." That translates to a 120 year copyright protection from the year of creation. Under the current laws, the 120 year term I was talking about is for unpublished anonymous works and unpublished works written under a pseudonym (unless the real name of the author is on file with the U.S. Copyright Office). For photos, we are not likely to know the name of the photographer, so the 120 year term should apply. However, for unpublished manuscripts written by a single author, the copyright term is the life of the author plus 70 years. BUT, if we can't determine the year of death of the author of an unpublished manuscript, as would often be the case, I believe the 120 year period applies. Of course, if we don't know when the author died, and there is no year shown in an unpublished work, we have just as much difficulty in determining 120 years from the year of creation. Cliff