Dear List, I have been following this thread with some interest but so far it has not been made clear when the copyright of original work expires. I thought, in my naive way that it was 50 years from the date of publication or the death of the originator. I am mindful of the publicity which arose when the copyright expired on the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan. I recently offered a few of my "old" books to Archive CD Books but the offer was declined as they were said to be still in copyright. All of them had no publication date but are clearly in the 19thC. I have recently come into possession of a book (144 pages of A5 but no Index"Concerning Todmorden Parish", C.G. Ramshaw pub. in 1911 by Fredk.Lee & Co.of Tod. The book is not mine but belongs to my son-in-law's family for whom I am trying to determine their Tod. connections. For various reasons, and especially from a genealogy point of view, it is a frustrating volume but it does contain those snippets and clues which we all rely on even if they are just to point us in the right direction. I am slowly putting together some form of Index so that I can offer this to the list for look-ups. I do not wish to deprive anyone who produces original work to be deprived of their legal rights but at the same time there is information in it which is of some present benefit to List members.The work is long out of print and I doubt whether it has sufficient merit to put into CD form. Any polite observations would be appreciated. Regards, Ernest (Southport, Lancs.)