On 6/9/98, Beverly Aytes-Bowhall <ay8tes2[_at_]highland.net> wrote:
>
> I have a question I really need answered. A cousin wrote a family
> history book, published and copyrighted in 1981. She has since passed
> on and there are no more copies available. I have tried finding her
> children but to no avail.
>
> Can I re-publish the book including the updates I have found??
>
> I am not a member of the list so if someone could contact me privatly
> it would be appreciated.
You didn't say what country you are asking about, so it is quite impossible for anyone to answer your question as posed.
In the US, at least, I can say that somebody somewhere owns the copyright rights -- they do not extinguish just because of someone's death or the exhaustion of efforts to find the owner of the rights. Find that party, or those parties, and get their permission, and you are safe.
Keep in mind that the deceased might have assigned the rights to someone prior to death, unbeknownst to the heirs. So it's not enough simply to contact the heirs.
Carl Oppedahl
<carl[_at_]oppedahl.com>
Received on Thu Jun 11 1998 - 17:14:43 GMT
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