When
publishers and author associations complain about the huge amount of copyright
violation in piratical download of digital publications, including electronic
books (e-books), they should start by trying to put a little order in the chaos
of copyright laws, which has become outstanding since Internet has made easy the
exchange of digital files between world-wide users. Let us consider a few examples
of this chaos:
·
In the USA, every book published before 1923 is
in the public domain. For those published between 1923 and 1963, the default
duration was 28 years after publication, which could be extended to 95 by
renewing the copyright. The latter became the copyright duration for all books between
1964 and 1977. After 1978, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death.
·
In all the countries of the European
Union, for all
authors dead since 1994, copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death.
·
In Spain, for authors dead before 1987, copyright
endures till 80 years after their death. 60 years is applicable to those dead
between 1987 and 1994. The European Union rule is in effect for authors dead
after 1994.
·
Canada, New Zealand and Australia had a 50-year-after-death rule. In
2006, Australia adopted the European Union rule without backdating, which means
that copyright there has expired for all authors dead before 1956. The other
two countries have not changed their laws, so all books written by authors dead
before 1965 are in the public domain there. Thus many books under copyright in
the USA and Europe do not hold it in those three countries.
Project Gutenberg makes freely available over a
million e-books and is very careful not to include books under copyright protection
in the USA. However, the Australian version of this project offers books in the public domain
in Australia, but under copyright protection in Europe and the USA. This web
and a similar in Canada include warnings such as the following:
Because
Project Gutenberg Australia can only perform copyright research using
Australian laws, it is possible that some eBooks which are public domain in
Australia are still under copyright protection in other countries. Persons
outside of Australia should check their laws before redistributing Project
Gutenberg Australia eBooks.
Internet has
given rise to freedom of communication almost everywhere in the world, which
makes absurd keeping in effect contradictory copyright rules. All countries
should reach an agreement on a backdated common legislation that should also
reduce the copyright period, for the current 70-year-after-death rule is
unreasonable and sometimes reaches over a century after the book was published.
Are they trying to protect the great-grandchildren of the authors? Not at all. They
are protecting the publishers, who are always putting pressure on governments
to increase the periods and persecute illegal downloads. Not all publishers,
however, agree: Baen Books, for
instance, believes that free diffusion of e-books improves the sale of paper
books and offer free access to a part of their catalog.
Manuel Alfonseca
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