4 ms·

It will fall into the public domain, but if the estate holds the only surviving copy it's kind of a moot point.

bombcar 5y ago
I 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 ago
  This 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 ago
    Yes - 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 ago
    Fixed 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.
  - zerocrates 5y ago
    Something created but not published before 1978 gets basically the "modern" copyright duration: life of the author plus 70 years, with a caveat that none of these would fall into the public domain until 2003. To encourage publication, if you did publish a previously-unpublished pre-78 work before 2003, you got a bonus extension of that term until 2048. This was written before 1978, was not published before then, and not published before 2003 either, so it is protected by copyright for 70 years after Steinbeck's death: he died in 1968, so through 2038. As to the hypothetical unpublished work that the publisher takes and publishes as their own: with newly-created work nowadays its easy: the work was copyrighted at "fixation," no need to publish or intend to publish. Before 1978, the author had state-level common-law copyright in unpublished works that would have applied.
dfxm12 5y ago
if the estate holds the only surviving copy it's kind of a moot point. They don't. It's currently in the Harry Ransom Center archives at UT. https://lithub.com/john-steinbeck-wrote-a-werewolf-murder-mystery-but-you-cant-read-it/ https://lithub.com/john-steinbeck-wrote-a-werewolf-murder-my...

I 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 ago
This 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 ago
  Yes - 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 ago
  Fixed 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.
- zerocrates 5y ago
  Something created but not published before 1978 gets basically the "modern" copyright duration: life of the author plus 70 years, with a caveat that none of these would fall into the public domain until 2003. To encourage publication, if you did publish a previously-unpublished pre-78 work before 2003, you got a bonus extension of that term until 2048. This was written before 1978, was not published before then, and not published before 2003 either, so it is protected by copyright for 70 years after Steinbeck's death: he died in 1968, so through 2038. As to the hypothetical unpublished work that the publisher takes and publishes as their own: with newly-created work nowadays its easy: the work was copyrighted at "fixation," no need to publish or intend to publish. Before 1978, the author had state-level common-law copyright in unpublished works that would have applied.

dfxm12 5y ago

if the estate holds the only surviving copy it's kind of a moot point. They don't. It's currently in the Harry Ransom Center archives at UT. https://lithub.com/john-steinbeck-wrote-a-werewolf-murder-mystery-but-you-cant-read-it/ https://lithub.com/john-steinbeck-wrote-a-werewolf-murder-my...