Re: copyright expirations

Heather Marie Peurano <hmp8[_at_]columbia.edu> asked:
>
> Are there any other famous copyrights that are due to expire soon?

The answer is, anything published in the USA in 1923 is due to expire on 1 January 1999. Foreign works published in 1923 should in theory expire also, but there are rumors of rights-holders using the URAA (which implements the GATT) to get around this. I have not been able to confirm these rumors.

A number of 1923 works are listed at

     http://addison.english.purdue.edu/cccc-ip/pd1923.html

These include "The enormous room" by e.e. cummings, and "New Hampshire" by Robert Frost. Also listed is "Bambi" by Felix Salten, but beware: this only applies, if it applies at all, to the first (1923) German language edition, not the second (1926) German language edition which is under copyright in the USA. I have no knowledge of English translations, but in theory, at least, copyright in an English translation published in 1923 will expire at the end of 1998.

Heather Marie Peurano asks also:
>
> What are the potential losses to the public if Congress extends
> copyrights for another 20 years?

One of the finest things we lose is freedom. Extending the term of copyright means that the first printing - which is sometimes the only printing - of a work will be 20 years older, its pages 20 years brittler, its binding 20 years weaker, when the work finally goes into the public domain. This makes the public domain less truly public in fact, since these much older printed volumes, by the time the copyright on their content has expired, will be far less available. Perhaps a few works will be reprinted. But in some cases the reprints might not be plain reprints: some will be revised editions in which the subsequent material can't be deconvoluted from the original material without access to the first edition. Others will be locked up in limited-access special collections, or backed up to CD-ROM where their use will be limited by ther terms of shrink-wrap licenses, or backed up to microforms which are less convenient and more expensive to use than the bound books. This will raise the threshold of cost and inconvenience we must overcome before accessing the public domain, making us less truly free to access it. The current term of copyright in old-act works is 75 years. This is in fact too long, but it is still short enough that the first printing of a book can survive the term of its copyright under conditions of reasonable use with at least a chance, at the end of this term, of being fit to be handled and photocopied.

Another thing we lose is faith in our elected representatives. They promised us in 1976 that the monopolies then in force would terminate after 75 years. It hurts to see them double-cross us some 20-odd years later. It hurts to see them vote to extend the monopolies their predecessors promised would terminate, when they would not dare to vote to extend a tax the repeal of which had earlier been promised. It hurts to see them knuckle under to the forces of greed. It hurts to see them frame mischief by statute.

Timothy Phillips
<phillips[_at_]mail.nhn.ou.edu> Received on Thu Mar 12 1998 - 17:29:47 GMT