International protection for non USA authors

Hi There

Can anyone from the group tell me if there is anyway that an authors work (in this case artistic and written) that was created and published in the UK in the 1950' through to the 1960's and and that had the (C) symbol next to it during that period could be in the public domain in the USA?

Is the work protected by the Universal Copyright Convention or maybe the Berne convention? I'm not sure about this as a publisher in the USA has just told me that the work is in the public domain in the States and he is free to exploit it through the use of "acquired rights" could someone please explain to me exactly what acquired rights are and is this legal? What is the USA's stance on works from the UK that predate the Berne convention by some 40 years?

Any help would be appreciated

Regards

Jake Received on Fri Mar 24 2006 - 21:55:30 GMT