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I suppose the next step is to sue Penguin for Copyright infringement. It is a testament to how twisted the copyright laws are that they result in this sort of

I suppose the next step is to sue Penguin for Copyright infringement. It is a testament to how twisted the copyright laws are that they result in this sort of situation.

ncmncm 5y ago
Hoff having the power to take back his copyright from Penguin is not an example of laws twisted. That right was instituted specifically to enable creators to get back control of their work after whoever bought it have had (way more than) enough time to make up their investment. And, no, Penguin will not now be sued for infringement unless they are now infringing.
- kragen 5y ago
  But the original book included the quoted Milne text and Shepard illustrations, so now neither Hoff nor Penguin nor anyone else has the rights to publish it. Reproducing the Milne text might reasonably fall within the ambit of fair use, but the use of the Shepard illustrations would be much more difficult to defend legally. Christopher Robin Milne himself died at age 75 a quarter-century ago, never ceasing to deplore the commercialization of his father's work ("climbing upon my infant shoulders"). His daughter Clare died in 02012. Disgracefully, I think that some of the Milne and Shepard work is still in copyright; The House at Pooh Corner wasn't published until 01928, and even Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 01926. The only Pooh material published early enough to be in the US public domain is the poem from When we Were Very Young. I think that in two and a half months Winnie-the-Pooh goes into the public domain in the US, but the other remains locked up until 02024. I'm not sure about, for example, the UK; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28926477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28926477 says in the UK it's locked up until 02027, which happens to be 15 years after Milne's last living descendant perished. If Hoff is still alive in 02024, perhaps he will—by virtue of having outlived A.A. Milne by 68 years, almost four human generations—finally win the legal right to comment freely on the spiritual dimensions of Milne's work.

I suppose the next step is to sue Penguin for Copyright infringement. It is a testament to how twisted the copyright laws are that they result in this sort of situation.

ncmncm 5y ago

Hoff having the power to take back his copyright from Penguin is not an example of laws twisted. That right was instituted specifically to enable creators to get back control of their work after whoever bought it have had (way more than) enough time to make up their investment. And, no, Penguin will not now be sued for infringement unless they are now infringing.

kragen 5y ago
But the original book included the quoted Milne text and Shepard illustrations, so now neither Hoff nor Penguin nor anyone else has the rights to publish it. Reproducing the Milne text might reasonably fall within the ambit of fair use, but the use of the Shepard illustrations would be much more difficult to defend legally. Christopher Robin Milne himself died at age 75 a quarter-century ago, never ceasing to deplore the commercialization of his father's work ("climbing upon my infant shoulders"). His daughter Clare died in 02012. Disgracefully, I think that some of the Milne and Shepard work is still in copyright; The House at Pooh Corner wasn't published until 01928, and even Winnie-the-Pooh was published in 01926. The only Pooh material published early enough to be in the US public domain is the poem from When we Were Very Young. I think that in two and a half months Winnie-the-Pooh goes into the public domain in the US, but the other remains locked up until 02024. I'm not sure about, for example, the UK; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28926477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28926477 says in the UK it's locked up until 02027, which happens to be 15 years after Milne's last living descendant perished. If Hoff is still alive in 02024, perhaps he will—by virtue of having outlived A.A. Milne by 68 years, almost four human generations—finally win the legal right to comment freely on the spiritual dimensions of Milne's work.