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Poster:
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dudeman5685 |
Date:
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December 25, 2009 11:56:42am |
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Forum:
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texts
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Subject:
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Re: How to determine if books are public domain? |
Basics of US copyright law:
Anything before January 1, 1923 is public domain, whether published in the US or abroad.
Between 1923- March 1, 1989 that is uncopyrighted is in public domain. Anything thing published in the US without copyright after that date you still have to ask permission for.
Works published between 1923-1963 -- items may be copyrighted, but unrenwed. To see if such a copyrighted is now in pd because of this, check here:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/Works published by the US govt. go straight into pd.
Works published by a foreign govt., and uncopyrighted, in the US - there were actually a lot of these, it started during World War II - are in pd. If it is an uncopyrighted work published by a foreign govt. in a foreign country, BUT can be shown to be meant for distribution in the USA is in public domain, for instance
http://www.archive.org/details/TheDutchRepublicInTheDaysOfJohnAdamsFinally, if there is a fair use note on a copyrighted item, it can of course be uploaded, but if it is a more ambiguous note, you may want to contact the author, or the authors heirs. For instance,
http://www.archive.org/details/TheKoranTestamonyOfTheAntichristMerry Christmas
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