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Copyright law?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I wonder if anyone could help me with regards to publishing copywright law?
Basically, to publish pieces of literature on a website (and possibly later in print) what is the deal regarding their ownership?

So if the author is dead, who owns the copyright? I presume the publishers or editors to some degree...but if i were to put a poem (or say a works of shakespeare) online, would i have to take it from one of the original texts and edit it to some degree of modern english? I'm guessing i couldn't transcribe an oxford university press edition...

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Who owns the copyright is down to who bought it. Like somebody owns the rights to the happy birthday song, hence why they dont sing it in resturants or on tv or what not. Else they have to pay for every time its sung.
    Michael Jackson owns some of the beatels songs and so forth and so forth.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    although with music it gets a little complicated as trad songs and songs over blah blah years old become free, though specific recordings may have publishing rights ascribed to them with a performance fee for the artist or whoever has bought/given their rights etc. and wasn't mickey mouse supposed to become copyright free becasue ot was over fifty years old, until disney made a whoha about it?

    OP: I don't know.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So if the author is dead, who owns the copyright? I presume the publishers or editors to some degree...but if i were to put a poem (or say a works of shakespeare) online, would i have to take it from one of the original texts and edit it to some degree of modern english? I'm guessing i couldn't transcribe an oxford university press edition...
    Things become free from all copyright laws 75 years after the person who wrote them dies (or it might be 75 years after they wrote them, if they're dead, I can't remember). I think it becomes a bit more complicated with people signing over rights, but I do know that some of Elvis' first songs are just about to become free reign for DJ's and such, so I'm not sure. Shakespeare is completely free reign, as are things like the Bible, but remember in these cases that even though the original text is free, someone might still own the translation. Obviously this isn't a concern for Shakespeare or other literature that's still in it's original form. Similarly with music, all of the great classical music is free from copyright laws, but people can still copyright the performance of it, so you can't just steal the BBC Philharmonic orchestra's rendition of a famous song. So as long as you don't scan the book, it will be fine to put any Shakespeare or old poetry online. A quick check is to look on Amazon. If there's loads of different versions of a particular book, it's safe to say that no-one owns the copyright.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    shakespeare translated would lose its charm. the old language is part of what makes its great.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Copyright can be very complicated, but as a general rule you can reproduce text so long as you are not doing it for commercial gain, and you fully credit your source. Saying "this is from..." will be enough.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    O_o wrote:
    shakespeare translated would lose its charm. the old language is part of what makes its great.
    Actually almost every version you read is at least edited or translated a little. Spelling of words is modernised, for example S's are changed so they no longer look like F's:
    richard_III_1612_publication.gif
    (1612 edition of richard III)

    I thought texts became free from copyright after 75 years or something like that, i just wasn't sure if particular versions are, since as i say most are edited accounts. Nice to know that many of our great works are effectively public domain. What i'm looking at doing is publishing the works of many lost authors from the renaissance through to the 19th century online.
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