Joli Sandoz <sandozj[_at_]evergreen.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm putting together an anthology, and want to use material published
> in the U.S. in both book and magazine form before 1923. Can I assume
> this material is in the public domain; that is, is there any way a
> book or magazine article first published more than 75 years ago could
> not be in the public domain? If so, how can I check the status of
> the piece? And finally, is the public domain status of this type of
> material affected when it is reprinted? (I want to use an excerpt from
> a book published in 1895 which has been reprinted twice since 1985.)
Everything published in the U.S. more than 75 years ago is in the public domian in the U.S. There are no exceptions. However, it's possible for such works to still be protected in other countries. For example, a pre-1923 work will be protcted in Canada if the author has been dead less than 50 years.
Reprinting a PD work does not take it out of the public domain. You can still use it. However, you can't use without permission any new material added in the reprint--for example, a new introduction, footnotes, illustrations, etc.
Stephen Fishman
<sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:32 GMT