[LINK] copyright question for you

[Kim Holburn]

Thanks guys,

I got this from the ag's website:

http://www.ag.gov.au/Copyright/Pages/Howlongdoescopyrightlast.aspx
> Copyright subsists indefinitely in a literary, dramatic or musical work that has not been published, performed in public, broadcast or sold as a recording during the life of the author. If the work is posthumously made public in any of those ways, the copyright will terminate at the end of 70 years after that event.


http://www.ag.gov.au/Copyright/Pages/CancopyrightbeboughtandsoldinAustralia.aspx
> Copyright can be dealt with in the same way as other forms of personal property. It can be assigned, licensed, given away, sold, left by will, or passed on according to the laws relating to intestacy or bankruptcy. 

This is apparently current copyright law, based on the 2006 amendments.  I was wondering if the fact that in this case the author died in 1927 means that copyright comes under a different law.

In this case some of the author's work was published but some is unpublished and it is the unpublished work that is in question.  Also it appears that if the author is dead then the ownership is based on (from the above quote) "left by will" or "laws relating to intestacy" which I know little about and tracing the surviving relatives of someone who died in 1927 is not simple and was tried unsuccessfully 30 years ago.  

Not that it matters, but being poetry this is not being done for money.


On 2012/Apr/29, at 6:12 PM, Richard Chirgwin wrote:

> Also, Gutenberg Australia has some notes specific to the local situation:
> http://gutenberg.net.au/submissions.html
> 
>> Under Australian copyright law, literary, dramatic, andmusical work 
>> published, performed, communicated, or recorded and offered for sale 
>> in an author's lifetime are, if the author died in or before 1954, 
>> protected for the life of the author plus fifty years from the end of 
>> the year of the author's death. Therefore, for a work to be in the 
>> "public domain" in Australia, it is only necessary that the author 
>> died in or before 1954 and that the work was published (not 
>> necessarily in Australia) during her/his lifetime.
> 
> This is important: "and offered for sale in an author's lifetime". For 
> something that was not published at the time of the author's death, I do 
> not know the copyright situation.
> 


On 2012/Apr/29, at 6:37 PM, Roger Clarke wrote:
> I didn't think the act of 'publishing' was relevant.
> 
> This is (as usual) unnecessarily complex legislative drafting, but it 
> seems to be in line with what I thought:
> http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s32.html
> 
> From a quick Google, see also:
> http://www.acmi.net.au/PAML/toolbox/cr_exp.htm#5

All the things I have read indicate that the date of publication is the starting point of copyright.  From your second link:

> 6. How long does copyright last?
> 
> 6.1	Copyright in works generally lasts until 50 years after the end of the year of the author's death. For works first published after the author's death, however, copyright protection is extended to 50 years after the year of first publication. Where multiple authors created a work, the relevant year of death is that of the last joint author to die.

>From this page:

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca1968133/s33.html

> (3)  If, before the death of the author of a literary work (other than a computer program) or a dramatic or musical work:
>                      (a)  the work had not been published;
>                      (b)  the work had not been performed in public;
>                      (c)  the work had not been broadcast; and
>                      (d)  records of the work had not been offered or exposed for sale to the public;
> the copyright in the work continues to subsist until the end of 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the work is first published, performed in public, or broadcast, or records of the work are first offered or exposed for sale to the public, whichever is the earliest of those events to happen.

Hmmm... I'm still not completely sure which law applies here, 70 years, 50 years or public domain?


Kim

-- 
Kim Holburn
The Pinchgut Press
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