On Mar 24, 2007, at 9:13 AM, Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
The way I understand copyrights here in the states (and the way I read
the introductory text to the German law) the copyright law is for the
good of the society-- not the publishers' good.
That's certainly the constitutional basis of copyright law in the
United States. Whether it actually works that way is another matter
entirely. (Transportation projects, agricultural subsidies, and
sales of advanced weaponry to allies around the world are also
allegedly done for the good of society, but one sometimes wonders.)
I have no insight into whether critical editions become public domain
in Germany after 25 years, but U.S. law is (surprisingly) quite clear
on treatment of works published outside the United States.
If a work published abroad meets any one of these three conditions:
(a) copyright properly registered with the U.S.;
(b) published after 1978; OR
(c) still protected by foreign copyright as of Jan 1, 1996,
then it enjoys all the same protection that a U.S. work would.
I believe any work of the sort we're discussing here meets at least
one of these criteria. Therefore, whether it's protected in Germany
or not, it's surely protected in the United States.
mdl
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