George S Clason - The Richest man in babylon

[sundeniro]

Hi

i would really like to distribute the above title as an ebook (freely) to people I come across through my profession (financial adviser) who could really do with reading it.

It was originally published in 1926 and the author died in 1957 (acording to WIki)

Their appear to be two current publisher signet(part of penguin US) and BNpublishing.

There are also some people distributing the book online claiming it is no longer copyright protected.

On questioning they claim it was not renewed?

I have found a reference in Us copyright office online to it being renewed in 1955 by george clason and clyde clason.

I really do not want to distribute this manuscript illegally and would therefore really appreciate some help from somene who knows what they are doing? As I certainly don't if it matters I am in the UK


Thanks In Advance

[CopyrightAid]

From your description, I believe that (under UK law at least), this work would still be subject to copyright.

As a quick reference on these matters, I find that the following chart is a great help: http://www.museumscopyright.org.uk/private.pdf

If you want to distribute this work I suggest that you contact the current publisher(s) and ask how to obtain permission to do this (and what fees are attached). I would also urge you to notify the publishers of the people you have discovered distributing the work: Given the age of the work, it may be their use is legitimate, but it seems just as likely that this is an infringment and the copyright owner may wish to pursue this matter.

[sundeniro]

I have emailed the publishers(multiple) but have not had any sort of response

[Sammy]

My understanding is that prior to 1995 the duration of copyright under UK law was life of the author plus 50 years. i.e. it expired in 2007. To me this means that the work IS in the public domain, (and the chart is wrong?).

[CopyrightAid]

Unfortunately, it may simply be that they can't be bothered to reply. I would persivere if this is importnat to you. You should not publish the work without permission.

[CopyrightAid]

Re: Sammy's post above

The current duration of copyright in artistic work is life of the author plus a further 70 years.
You are correct that prior to 1995 the duration of copyright was the life of the author plus 50 years, but this does not mean that copyright has expired - it would have been extended when the 1995 regulations came into place.

Here are a couple of quotes that deal with this:

[sundeniro]

Thats not actually that definitive though.

The author is not a UK Artist

And the second quote only applies if the work had copyright protection in another EEA state on the specified date.

Or am i reading it wrong

[CopyrightAid]

Mmm. I see your point, but given that copyright protection would be automatic (thanks to international conventions), I would expect protection within at least one EEA State as being pretty much a certainty and therefore protection would have been extended in the UK.

I may be wrong in my interpretation - we are at the limits of my knowledge here

[kaushalgoyal]

[kaushalgoyal]

[mikeRisso]