talkmagic.co.uk

If a book is in the public domain, are you allowed to produce it in book/ebook form?

If someone else has done so, can they legally claim copyright?

I ask, because I have one I want to mess about with, but the text is claimed copyright by the person who formatted it.

Just curious as to what magic books are in the public domain... could you link some.
I know that the Pubtricks.com website e-book can be changed about without fear of being pwned

I think I'll let a mod decide if this can be replied to.

Marvell wrote:If a book is in the public domain, are you allowed to produce it in book/ebook form?

If someone else has done so, can they legally claim copyright?

I ask, because I have one I want to mess about with, but the text is claimed copyright by the person who formatted it.

You need to clear it with the holder of the Copyright. Some of my academic books are in e-form, but through the original publisher. Any new prodcution would have to buy the rights or do some sort of deal.

DrTodd wrote:You need to clear it with the holder of the Copyright. Some of my academic books are in e-form, but through the original publisher. Any new prodcution would have to buy the rights or do some sort of deal.

Unless the book is ancient and no longer under the publisher's copyright. My question, I suppose, is ... is the copyright claimed by the republisher valid?

Any new prodcution would have to buy the rights or do some sort of deal.

if he's bourght the rights to reproduce then yes.
if he has just ripped it off then no.

I find it hart to believe that this gut has bought the rights to "Our Magic", 'specially since he's done such a c*** (not the best) job of formatting it.

I wouldn't have thought that he'd have copyright to the content, as it's that which is in the public domain. But he might have copyright to any formatting and presentational aspects of it.

The way I understand it (though I claim to have no real understanding of it so don't take my word for it) is:

Anything before a certain year (like 1905 or something) is public domain.
Some things before a certain year (maybe 1945?) is public domain, depending on whether the copyright was extended.
You can take anything that is public domain and release it in either book or ebook or anything.
You cannot copyright it, but if you write a preface for it you can copyright that and thus fool people into thinking you have the copyright for the book.


Again, this may all be lies, damn lies and statistics.

If the book is in public domain, anyone is free to do with it as they wish.

In the UK and Europe, copyright lasts for 70 years after the authors death (if the work has previously been published)

In the USA Any book published before 01/01/1923 is automatically out of copyright (except for foreign works). Anything published after 01/01/1978 is in copyright until 70 years after the authors death. Any book published between those dates will be in copyright until 2018 or later.

In most other countries it's 50 years after the death of the author.

We have been having a discussion about this over at one of the other boards.

A public domain book that has been reformated cannot be copyrighted, however if "extra content" is added then that can be copyrighted, however not the original authors text.

Also here is some information on this kind of thing that I managed to pick up from a copyright forum...

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First a bit of background.....

Copyright is an automatic international right of the author by virtue of international conventions. Most countries have signed up to the Berne Convention, and under this convention a work is subject to copyright for the life of the author plus fifty years.

In all cases, individual national laws can, and often will, allow additional protection over and above the terms of the Convention. For example, in the UK most work is protected for the life of the author plus 70 years. The Convention sets out what authors can realistically expect. There are also exceptions allowed for countries bound by the Rome Act.
source=http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p10_duration - may be relevant to you.

So to answer your questions ...

1. If a book is copyrighted in the US, is it classed as being copyrighted in the UK?

Yes. As copyright happens automatically, a book will be subject to copyright across the world from the point it is first written.

2. Does a book copyrighted in another country fall under that countries copyright rules or the country that I live in's rules?

The rules where you live would apply. Article 5 of the Berne Convention states that:

(1) Authors shall enjoy, in respect of works for which they are protected under this Convention, in countries of the Union other than the country of origin, the rights which their respective laws do now or may hereafter grant to their nationals, as well as the rights specially granted by this Convention.

(2) The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to any formality; such enjoyment and such exercise shall be independent of the existence of protection in the country of origin of the work. Consequently, apart from the provisions of this Convention, the extent of protection, as well as the means of redress afforded to the author to protect his rights, shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the country where protection is claimed.

(3) Protection in the country of origin is governed by domestic law. However, when the author is not a national of the country of origin of the work for which he is protected under this Convention, he shall enjoy in that country the same rights as national authors.

source http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html

3. Is there any way to find out whether or not a book is covered by copyright online?

Not directly, no - you must do your research and make a judgment, and if in doubt its probably best to assume it is and act accordingly.
For UK rules the following link is to a handy flow-chart that should help you determine this http://www.museumscopyright.org.uk/private.pdf.

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I don't know if this will be of any use to anyone, however since it had been mentioned, I thought I would post it up anyway for future reference.

Scotty