Determining if a book lies in the public domain

Traceing the copyright

[Fribble]

I would like to record a few books into mp3 form and offer them freely on one of my sites. The books I am looking at are all nearly 100 years old. How would I go about finding whether I can legally do this or not?

Thanks!

Fribs

[hunderdown]

In the US, and the book was published in the US, you're OK. If you're somewhere else, you need to find out the limit on term of copyright.

[Beagle]

After I posted the following, I realized that the law in force now is probably not retroactive. Previously, the law was based on the year of publication, so hundertdown is very likely correct - without my "unless" (but once I'd posted, I couldn't find a way to delete it - well, maybe the info will be useful to someone 50 years from now...).

In the U.S. you're okay unless (possibly) the author lived to a ripe old age. Check the law to make sure, of course, but I think the limit is based on the death of the author + 70 years, rather than on what year the work was published. If I have that right, works would now be in the public domain for authors who died before 1936.

[hunderdown]

Beagle, you have that just about right. Term of copyright was recently extended--retroactively, though stuff already in public domain remains in PD. This can all be researched at the copyright office, but I believe that the effect is that that cutoff date stays stuck around 1923 or so for the next either 10 or 20 years, when it starts moving forward again.

But anything "nearly 100 years old," if that means more than 90, and in the US, is in the clear.

[HRoth]

How do you research whether a copyright is still in force at the copyright office? Can you do it online? I looked all over their site a while ago for this info and couldn't find it.

[hunderdown]

Researching the copyright status of an individual book is difficult. If it isn't clearly in the public domain due to it having been published so long ago that it can not possibly remain in copyright, then I THINK you have to research when it was copyrighted, and if copyright renewals were made (which you used to have to do--books could fall into the public domain if they weren't renewed). I don't know how to do that. You may have to go to the Copyright Office or hire someone to do the work for you....