greatest books public domain image
Boostergol
I mean Captain America is from the 30's.
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I want to know it cos in few years my a book my grandpa's dad created might go public domain and I want to keep the rights for my family....You know Royalties were kinda nice....
well Marvel still owns captain America.
Answer
As I understand it, some of the early stories might be in the public domain, but because Marvel have continued to publish stories about Captain America, some of which are still in copyright, they retain the right to control the use of the character. It may also be something to do with the copyright being owned by a company instead of an individual.
If any story had fallen into the public domain, you could sell copies of it, but you wouldn't be able to sell your own stories with the Captain as a character, as they would be an unauthorised derivative work of something that was still in copyright. It would be next to impossible to write a Captain America story that was a derivative work of a public domain Captain America story without also being a derivative work of the stories that are still in copyright.
That's the theory, anyway. I wouldn't like to argue it with Marvel's lawyers - they're far scarier than any supervillain the company's invented ;-)
As for your great-granddaddy's book... you have some number of years after he died to make money out of it. In most countries, that number is 70. You might be able to retain the rights to the characters, if the estate authorises someone to write another book that features them. But once the clock has run out on the original book, it goes into the public domain. The only way you'll get it back is if Disney bribes enough politicians to extend the duration of copyright yet again - which seems depressingly likely at the moment.
EDIT: Dude the Obscure is right - it probably has much more to do with trademarks than copyrights. You could apply for trademark(s) on the character(s) in the book, but if you've managed without them so far, you'd have a hard time convincing whichever government body keeps track of them that great-granddaddy's legacy needs to keep on giving for the indefinite future.
EDIT 2: You can't renew the copyright in an existing work, not any more. It used to be possible in the USA - you had to register copyright, and the work was protected for a certain number of years, and then you could renew the copyright, once only. But now the American system is in line with the rest of the world, where a work is automatically protected for the author's lifetime and a number of years after that. If a company is the initial owner of the copyright, the copyright lasts for a certain number of years after publication, mainly because companies can (in theory) exist forever, so that would be an obvious way to prevent something from ever entering the public domain.
As I understand it, some of the early stories might be in the public domain, but because Marvel have continued to publish stories about Captain America, some of which are still in copyright, they retain the right to control the use of the character. It may also be something to do with the copyright being owned by a company instead of an individual.
If any story had fallen into the public domain, you could sell copies of it, but you wouldn't be able to sell your own stories with the Captain as a character, as they would be an unauthorised derivative work of something that was still in copyright. It would be next to impossible to write a Captain America story that was a derivative work of a public domain Captain America story without also being a derivative work of the stories that are still in copyright.
That's the theory, anyway. I wouldn't like to argue it with Marvel's lawyers - they're far scarier than any supervillain the company's invented ;-)
As for your great-granddaddy's book... you have some number of years after he died to make money out of it. In most countries, that number is 70. You might be able to retain the rights to the characters, if the estate authorises someone to write another book that features them. But once the clock has run out on the original book, it goes into the public domain. The only way you'll get it back is if Disney bribes enough politicians to extend the duration of copyright yet again - which seems depressingly likely at the moment.
EDIT: Dude the Obscure is right - it probably has much more to do with trademarks than copyrights. You could apply for trademark(s) on the character(s) in the book, but if you've managed without them so far, you'd have a hard time convincing whichever government body keeps track of them that great-granddaddy's legacy needs to keep on giving for the indefinite future.
EDIT 2: You can't renew the copyright in an existing work, not any more. It used to be possible in the USA - you had to register copyright, and the work was protected for a certain number of years, and then you could renew the copyright, once only. But now the American system is in line with the rest of the world, where a work is automatically protected for the author's lifetime and a number of years after that. If a company is the initial owner of the copyright, the copyright lasts for a certain number of years after publication, mainly because companies can (in theory) exist forever, so that would be an obvious way to prevent something from ever entering the public domain.
Can you quote books that are not in the public domain on clothing articles that you intend to sell?
biosurfgir
Or is that copyright infringement? I don't mean putting a name or something that is trademarked, but like if I quoted The great gatsby (which is not in the US public domain) and made profit from the shirt in question, would that be infringement?
Answer
It depends on the quote. One sentence would probably fall under 'fair use' as commentary. Filling the shirt would probably get you in trouble.
Note: The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925. US Copyright law for works published prior to 1978provides for up to 95 years of copyright protection.
It depends on the quote. One sentence would probably fall under 'fair use' as commentary. Filling the shirt would probably get you in trouble.
Note: The Great Gatsby was first published in 1925. US Copyright law for works published prior to 1978provides for up to 95 years of copyright protection.
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