The unconscionable theft of bread from the mouths of great-grandchildren continues

[womzilla]

F. Scott Fitzgerald's work goes into the public domain [ETA: in the EU and much of the rest of the world] on January 1, 2011. And all of James Joyce a year after that. (Actually, in the US all of Joyce's major works except Finnegans Wake are in the public domain now.)

(H. G. Wells's major sf novels don't go into the public domain in the UK until 2015, though they were mostly written 20-35 years earlier.)

(The amendment noted above is due to the near-psychotic randomness of US copyright law. Works that were first published in the US and were first published between 1923 and 1964 enjoy copyright protection for 95 years if their copyrights were properly renewed 28 years after publication. It's a pretty safe bet that the copyright on The Great Gatsby was properly renewed in 1953, so it will be under copyright in the US until 2020.)

Comments

[stevendj.livejournal.com]

Of course, in the United States any of Fitzgerald's work that's still under copyright won't enter the public domain until 95 years after publication—2019 at the earliest.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Oh, crap, you're right, assuming the copyrights were correctly renewed 28 years after first publication. I think my brain protects me from remembering precisely how much of an atrocity US copyright is.

Any of his works written before 1923 (which includes his first two novels) have been in the public domain in the US for years, but not in the EU; any of his works from 1924 to his death will be PD in the EU starting a month from now but under copyright in the US for 9 to 26 more years, except for the works which aren't. Fucking insane.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I think we should go back to traditional American copyright -- 28 years, renewable for another 28 years, end of story.

[washa-way.livejournal.com]

Entirely sensible. But the Mouse is gonna fight it, to the death, if need be.

[drelmo.livejournal.com]

N years, renewable thereafter for five years for a fee, each renewal costs more money.