Re: t.s. Elliot question & public domain

On 07/13/2000, Eric Eldred <eldred[_at_]eldritchpress.org> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Jul 12, 2000, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
> >
> > On 07/10/2000, Terry Dulberg <tdulberg[_at_]csuhayward.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > One of our students wants to use a poem by t.s. Eliott "The Love
> > > Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (first published in 1915) [...]
> >
> > If it was published in the U.S. before 1923, it is in the public
> > domain in the U.S. Under the 1976 Act, the maximum duration for
> > works published prior to 1978 was 75 years. In 1998, Congress
> > extended the maximum duration for these works to 95 years; but the
> > extension did not apply to works which were already in the public
> > domain. Unless Eric Eldred succeeds in his suit (seeking to hold
> > term extension unconstitutional), works first published in 1923
> > will not enter the public domain until Jan. 1, 2019.
>
> Thanks, Tyler!
>
> 1. Is it "published in the U.S. before 1923" or "published anywhere
> before 1923"? The poem in question is both (1915). But does it
> really matter, for U.S. law? Does current U.S. law recognize
> copyright under Berne for works first published before 1923,
> anywhere?

I restricted it to the U.S. because courts are not in agreement about what happens when the work was first published in another country before1923, but first published in the U.S. in 1923 or after. Most courts hold that publication anywhere suffices; but some have held foreign publication doesn't count. [The Bambi case.]

Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
<tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> Received on Fri Jul 14 2000 - 20:36:43 GMT