Copyright, Is it safe for me to publish a more that 70 year old book to an eBook.?

Question

I live in Britian is it ok for me to copy, scan and publish a 70 year old book. I think in Britian it's 70 years and in other places it's 50 not sure.

Answer 1

No -- it isn't safe, if by safe you mean clearly out of copyright.

The law is complicated - the copyright in different countries may depend on when published in those countries, and in many countries there will have been a renewal period which may have been exercised. Currently, in the US the copyright term is life of the author plus 70 years, although not for works published before 1978 (but it gets complicatd about what the term is for those earlier works.)

The EU also extended copyright, and in doing so revived copyrights that had lapsed.

If you want to be safe and only publish if the work is indeed in the public domain around the world, then you may have to pay a copyright search firm to do a report for you.

Answer 2

Britain, like most countries, base copyright protection on Berne Convention. The copyright is determined by the life of the author, not the date of publication. All EU countries recognize the term of life plus an additional 70 years for their authors. So unless the author happened to die the year the book was printed, it will be in rights for awhile yet. In the case the biographic info on the author's life is not available, you would be expected to allow 150 years before public domain could be reasonably assumed.

Answer 3

What? Why do you publish and old novel for copyright? Write your own novel, or do you want to publish another "War and Peace" or a Dicken novel to publish it on your name?

Answer 4

In the US the coyright lasts until the athor dies and then another 70 years.