Posted by John Nichols on September 29, 2004 at 19:55:51 from 165.91.198.68 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: John Buchan etc posted by Peter H on September 26, 2004 at 14:05:32:
Works originally copyrighted before 1950 and renewed before 1978:3 These works have automatically been given a longer copyright term. Copyrights that had already been renewed and were in their second term at any time between December 31, 1976, and December 31, 1977, inclusive, do not need to be renewed again. They have been automatically extended to last for a total term of 95 years (a first term of 28 years plus a renewal term of 67 years) from the end of the year in which they were originally secured. NOTE: This extension applies not only to copyrights less than 56 years old but also to older copyrights that had previously been extended in duration under a series of Congressional enactments beginning in 1962. As in the case of all other copyrights subsisting in their second term between December 31, 1976, and December 31, 1977, inclusive, these copyrights will expire at the end of the calendar year in which the 95th anniversary of the original date of copyright occurs.
I am of the opinion that in the USA that the John Buchan works are still in copyright. The young lady in Canada that placed the work in the Gutenberg project may be protected under Canadian law, but without doing a search on the Registry in the USA there is no way of knowing. I wonder if the Gutenberg Project search for every work.
Interesting problem.
John Nichols