Re: Copyright and production of simplified readers

At 3:50 PM -0400 4/10/06, Benedetta Bassetti wrote:
>Some colleagues and I would like to create simplified readers for
>second language learners. We would take an existing novel and
>rewrite the story using simple words, adding translations and notes.
>The thing would be sold as a booklet, with a cd-rom containing audio
>files and the electronic files of our story.
>
>Our questions are:
>1) since we are writing our own version of the story, there should
>be no copyright problems. Still, we are summarizing someone else's
>novel. What are we supposed to do with regards to copyright?
>2) Can we use the title of the original novel and the author's name,
>while still making clear that this is a simplified version and not
>the original novel?

This sounds like a derivative work, for which you would need the copyright owner's authorization. That's likely to be next to impossible because author's have a certain... well, pride of authorship, for lack of a better term. A wholesale re-write to make it "simple" probably isn't going to fly.

>3) if neither of these is possible, is it possible to use novels by
>authors who are dead, or in countries not covered by copyright?
>

Whatever countries aren't covered by copyright protection didn't produce a lot of literature to copy, and dead's not good enough. You need long-dead.

I think the project would actually work better if you "retold" public domain stories and legends with familiar plots and recognizable themes -- Robin Hood, bible stories, King Arthur's quest for the holy grail, Grimm's fairy tales, etc.

John Noble Received on Wed Apr 12 2006 - 00:00:01 GMT