----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Having dealt with questions about the copyright of various books and prints
over the past few years, I can only warn Mr. Tallow that it is absolutely
impossible to give any simple answer to such questions. Determination of
copyright can depend on who the copyright owner is or was, when copyright was
registered and whether or not it was renewed, and other factors which only an
intellectual property attorney can explain. Besides, our Congress in its
wisdom just extended existing copyrights by twenty years (with certain fairly
complicated exceptions.) Besides legitimate copyright claims, there are
certain corporate copyright holders who assert quite broad, and quite dubious,
copyright claims, and make loud legal noises at anyone who violates them; so
you can have a legal tussle on your hands even about things which really are
public domain. This is an area in which the conventional wisdom about
librarians not giving legal advice is absolutely right.
William Lang
Rare Book Department
The Free Librarian of Philadelphia
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