Help Needed!

Hi Everybody,We're trying to work out how long an author needs to have been dead before their work enters the public domain. On one hand, we've been told by the Arts Law Centre in Sydney that, according to the Australian Copyright Act of 1968, copyright exists in Australia for 50 YEARS after the death of the author or the first date of publication (whichever is the later). Moves to increase this to 70 years to bring us in line with Europe HAVE NOT YET GONE THROUGH!And it looks as though they may not...So, Barrie, Pinero, Maeterlinck, Pirandello and next year Shaw are all inthe public domain.On the other hand, I seem to remember an excellent (but then, aren't they all) editorial by David Crewes in a past Link reporting how the time period had been extended from 70 to 90 years. Consequently, just when he had made it into the public domain, J M Barrie's works were freely denied us for a further 20 years. (JM Barrie died in 1937.)How about Wilde, for instance? Does anyone know if Melville had to pay royalties on ";Ernest";?Is anybody out there? David? Norma? Trevor?JB

EMAILNOTICES>no> We're trying to work out how long an author needs to have been> dead before their work enters the public domain.I'm no expert, but I'd heard recently it was still 50 years.

> I'm no expert, but I'd heard recently it was still 50 years.Check out what the Australian Copyright Council has to say.They have a couple of information sheets that are relevant:Putting on a concert, play or musicalWriters and CopyrightUnfortunately the information sheets are in PDF format and you'll need a PDF reader program to view and print them after they've downloaded. More details here .Please note too, that the sheets change regularly and they recommend you visit their website to find uptodate information.Their information on Writers and Copyright suggests that copyright only lasts 50 years after the death of the writer or first publication, whichever is later.However, the information is targetted at Australian writers and the protection afforded them by Australian law may differ from that provided by other countries to their own writers. So work by Australian writers may only be protected for 50 years, but work by other writers in the US and UK may be protected for 70, as has been suggested.Sounds pretty daft, but we are talking about the law ;)CheersGrant

EMAILNOTICES>noDoesn't it also depend on whether the author's family chooses to extend that copyright 50 years after death with money being paid to the estate?

Thanks Leah. You are wonderful to have around.As for extending copyright, I know of only one case, where it has been done, and I think its a law unto itself. It is original stage version of Peter Pan, where the Royalties go to The Great Ormand (sp?) Street Children's Hospoital in London. Although this seems to apply only to this production and its performance rights, rather than copyright, as there are now other versions of Peter Pan available.I guess it because you'd have to be pretty tough to argue against a charity situation like that one. All JM Barrie's other plays are in the public domain I believe.ALSO DO NOT ASK THE AGENTS WHETHER THEY ARE IN COPYRIGHT OR NOT, AS I KNOW AT LEAST ONE COMPANY WHO PAID PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ON A PLAY IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN (the agents had a version in print so accepted rights.) Of course, there MIGHT be honest or informed agents out there.............Kim

The Great Ormand (sp?) Street Children's HospitalGreat Ormond Street Children's Hospital - for the record

According to section 33(2) of the Copyright Act (Cmth) 1968, the exclusive rights to the work belong to the owner of the copyright until 50 years after the calender month of the year they died. According to s 33(3), if the work was not published till after they died, the copyright vests in the owner until 50 years after the calender month in which it was first published.I do not think the right is extendable. The aim is to put the work back into the public domain after a certain amount of time. Only trade marking is extendable. So far the international movement to extend the copyright has failed, but I don't know how mucch longer for.I hope all that is correct.LEAH