Copyright Advice
A copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. Wikipedia's article provides a more detailed definition.
The official guide to copyright is the Project Gutenberg Copyright How-To. This page gives supplementary advice from DP users and lists copyright and copyright clearance resources.
About the Public Domain
Distributed Proofreaders only works on projects that are in the public domain in the United States. Here are links and resources on how to tell if a work is in the U.S. public domain.
Rule 1: Date of Publication
Most books published before 1978 enter the public domain in the United States 95 years after the year of first publication. That means that as of today, most books published in 1929 or before are in the public domain and can be cleared for posting at Project Gutenberg.
In the Project Gutenberg Copyright How-To, this is Rule 1. Any book we can prove was published before this date will be cleared for copyright by Project Gutenberg.
(Rules 2 and 3 deal with books published after 1978 that are not in the public domain and are not relevant to our work at Distributed Proofreaders.)
Rule 4: Unpublished Works
Most of the time, we deal with published works. The rules applying to unpublished manuscripts are complex; the most important thing to understand is that even if a work was written hundreds of years before 1929, if it was only published afterwards, it may not be in the public domain.
Rule 5: Works Published Without Notice
Before 1989, in order to be protected by copyright, works first published in the U.S. or by U.S. authors needed to include a printed copyright notice. Some works that were published without this notice may be in the U.S. public domain.
Rule 6: Copyright Renewals
Before 1964, the copyright term was split into two terms: one that was obtained automatically on publication, and an extended term that could be obtained by filing a notice of copyright renewal. If the renewal was not filed, the work entered the public domain. Copyright renewals are public documents and have been posted to Project Gutenberg to assist with research:
- List of Copyright Renewals
Rule 8: Government Works
Some U.S. government works are not subject to copyright law.
How to Clear Copyright
Main article: Copyright clearance
To be used at Distributed Proofreaders, it is not enough that you think something is out of copyright
Foreign Works and the Public Domain
Unlike the U.S., most countries have long had a system where works enter the public domain a set number of years after the death of the author. Many countries originally had a term of 50 years, but most countries now follow the standard rule of 70 years.
In countries with a copyright term of 70 years after the death of the author, works by authors who died in 1954 or before are in the public domain.
Because Project Gutenberg follows U.S. copyright law, even if a work is in the public domain in its country of origin, it cannot be used at Distributed Proofreaders unless it is also in the public domain under U.S. law. However, to avoid foreign copyright issues, DP volunteers should work only on works that are in the public domain in their country as well as in the U.S. For this reason, it is good practice to include the author's date of death in your project information.
More information on international copyright issues: