public domain query

I have two related public domain questions:

If a US author's book is out of copyright in the US (because it was published pre-1923), but he/she died after 1929, does that mean that their work is still protected in countries where the copyright duration is, e.g., 70 years plus the author's life? I take it that in the wake of GATT, the US only follows the national treatment rule for works by foreign nationals that are still under copyright in the author's country of origin or that fell into the public domain in the US owing to a failure to comply with former US copyright registration formalities, etc. But do EC countries also only follow the national treatment rule if the work of a foreign national is still copyright protected in the author's country of origin?

Second, I have been assuming that foreign-born authors whose books are PD in the US are still under copyright in their native country if the term of protection is 70 years plus the author's life in that country and the author died after 1929 -- is that right?

For both cases, if an author's work is PD in the US but still protected in, say, the UK and EC countries, then, does that mean a US publisher has to have a mechanism at place both in-house and at sites like amazon.com to prevent distribution in countries where the book is still in copyright?

Many thanks in advance,
regards,

MJ Devaney
mdevaney[_at_]toexcel.com Received on Mon Sep 27 1999 - 15:33:36 GMT