Re: anonymous copyright

On Wed, 13 Oct 1999, Mikus Grinbergs <mikus[_at_]bga.com> wrote:
>
> When the author of a work is expressly identified as "Anonymous",
> does that affect the copyright in that work?
>
> [I was on the Board of Editors of an organization. We published
> an anthology of poetry in which the author of one of the poems
> was listed as "Anonymous". We knew who the author was, but the
> author had requested to be listed as "Anonymous" because of the
> intensely personal subject matter of the poem.]

In general, I suggest that the moral right of identification gives authors the right to the identification of their choice -- "George Eliot" or "Anonymous" having the same status as any other string of letters they may choose. The rights of the underlying natural person are unaffected by the choice of identification.

In the USA there is no such right, so I haven't the foggiest idea; I suspect you'd have to read and interpret all contracts relating to the work in question.

--
Mike Holderness
http://www.poptel.org.uk/nuj/mike/
<mch[_at_]cix.compulink.co.uk>