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“As Steinbeck wrote Murder at Full Moon under a pseudonym and did not choose to publish the work during his lifetime, we uphold what Steinbeck had wanted,” [the
by dfxm12 5y ago
“As Steinbeck wrote Murder at Full Moon under a pseudonym and did not choose to publish the work during his lifetime, we uphold what Steinbeck had wanted,” [the estate's agents] said.
This isn't true as the article states earlier that Murder at Full Moon – has survived unseen in an archive ever since being rejected for publication in 1930.
As this was never published, how does copyright law affect it? Will the estate have no say in the matter when the novel becomes 96 years old in a few years?
- devindotcom 5y agoI have to imagine copyright has nothing to do with it, since it was never copyrighted. They can hold onto it for another century if they want.
- fastball 5y agoThat's not how copyright works, no? Copyright exists when you write something, regardless of where you put it.
- ghaff 5y agoNow. Wasn't true then. But others who are probably more knowledgable than I are saying that older non-copyrighted work inherited the modern Berne regime automatically.
- scratcheee 5y agocopyright is automatic and implied, if someone somehow got a legal opportunity to see it, and managed to copy the work (or indeed if the publisher who originally refused it decided to publish it from their records), they would be breaking copyright from the original work regardless. But once the copyright runs out then the publisher can publish it regardless, and a viewer could quietly copy it and publish it, unless someone in the estate made altered copies for anyone viewing it, then the altered copies would have fresh copyright, confusing the whole issue.
- u9rptDjqLl0Pdcz 5y agoI thought this was a change ca. 1980 or so?
- not2b 5y ago1989, when the US finally ratified the Berne Convention. But I think it was retroactive.
- wizzwizz4 5y agoOne hasn't had to file for copyright for a very long time. It's automatic now.
- jandrese 5y agoIt will fall into the public domain, but if the estate holds the only surviving copy it's kind of a moot point.
- bombcar 5y agoI don't believe this is true if it were never released, since the copyright term starts upon publication. I am incorrect: https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain It is lifetime of the author + 70 years.
- klyrs 5y agoThis is a really interesting question. If I send a manuscript to a publisher, the publisher declines, but a clerk of that publisher attempts to republish the work under their own name, is that not a copyright violation? The wording in [1, and link to "fixed"] suggests to me that the work is covered by copyright because the author conveyed it to a publisher with intent to publish. [1] https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/basics.html https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/basics.html
- bombcar 5y agoYes - everything you produce is instantly copyrighted nowadays - the question is when such would fall out. Likely if the clerk kept the copy until after you died, he'd get away with it.
- toast0 5y agoFixed in a tangible medium means recorded in some fashion. In a computer's non volatile storage, on paper, on a tape or record or CD or wax cylinder, etc. But, not simply performed for an audience (or oneself). Under modern copyright law, if it's a qualified work, and it's recorded, copyright begins then. No intent to publish or special marking or registration or other such ceremony is required. Marking and registration do have benefits in lawsuits about infringement, however. For works created before the modern automatic copyright, other rules probably apply.