Book People Archive

Re: Lady Chatterly's Copyright

Actually, at this point, I don't know for sure what
_Lady Chatterley's Lover_'s copyright status is in the US.

When I originally listed the work, it was on a site that
was based in the UK (and the UK was still on a "life + 50 years"
copyright term).  Since then, the UK has extended copyrights
retroactively to life+70 (but, I'm told, with a "reliance party"
clause that exempted people already exploiting works that were
put back into copyright)-- and bibliomania.com has moved from
the UK to the US.

When the work was put up in Britain, I put in a warning to US
readers that the work was still copyrighted here.  However,
this was based on what looks now like an incorrect assumption--
I was just looking at the publication date, reflecting that the novel
was famous and still in print, and assuming the copyright would have
been filed and renewed.

From a quick overview of the publication history of LCL,
it looks like the work as originally published was not
copyrighted in the US.  Indeed, none of the early US printings
I find in Penn's library has a proper copyright notice.

I found copyright notices for later editions of early drafts of the novel
(e.g. "The First Lady Chatterley..."), and for a recent critical
edition of LCL, but these seem to have notices that reflect these
subsequently-published editions.  They don't mention copyrights on the
original 1928 publication.  (LCL was first published in 1928.)
Likewise, I don't find a copyright
renewal for LCL in the 1955/1956 time frame, which is when
a copyright renewal for 1928 would need to have been filed.

GATT may have restored the copyright, but it's not clear that it
actually did, as it looks like there was some intent from the start
to send copies to the US.  If there was such importation, that may
have prevented the copyright from  being restored by GATT.
(If LCL *was* eligible for restoration, I would expect a Notice
of Intent to Enforce to have been filed by now, and I can't find one.)

In the absence of further information, I'll assume that Bibliomania
continues to have the legal right to post its edition of LCL
on its (now US-based) web site.  (Generally, before I list a work, I
assume it's copyrighted unless there's evidence otherwise; but
once I list a work, I assume it's okay to keep on-line unless there's
evidence otherwise.  Makes life simpler for index maintenance.)
I may even remove the "no US access" warning when I get around to it.

If Bibliomania, or any of LCL's publishers, has other information on
the current rights to the book, I'll also take that into account.

Usual disclaimer: this is not legal advice, and I'm not a lawyer.

John

Eric Eldred wrote [snipped]:
> i don't know if LCL is in the public domain in the U.S.
> or not.  as far as i can tell, it was first published
> in 1928.  but there were apparently some early versions
> and i don't know the copyright history.  since lawrence
> died in 1930, his works would go into the public domain
> after 50 years in canada and 70 years in the u.k. (i
> assume that means 2001-01-01)   if the work was published
> more than 1 year in another country before first published
> in the u.s., it probably would fall under the gatt provisions.
> and enforcement of copyright under gatt by the heirs one
> would think would be possible in the u.s. only if they
> filed an intent to enforce copyright with the copyright
> office.  i see a buccaneer press edition from 1983, so
> i doubt they ever did.
> 
> no doubt john mark ockerbloom had sufficient doubts about
> the copyright to add his restriction in his listings. but
> that doesn't mean that he had evidence the work was really
> under copyright in the u.s.
> 
> and all that doesn't mean the work would enter the public
> domain by lapse of enforcement (there isn't any such thing,
> as far as i know).  but it might mean that anyone claiming
> copyright infringement might not be able to collect damages
> for publication when the work was online more than 3 years
> (statute of limitations).
> 
> probably if there is no better information than this, the
> case would have to be resolved in court.  but one ought to
> ask bibliomania directly and not me; i'm not a lawyer.
> 
> as far as my lawsuit Eldred v Reno goes, i am not sure
> how all this applies.  i don't advocate anyone's violating
> the law and infringing on author rights.  however, this
> case might indeed show that retrospective copyright term and
> such tricks as reinstating copyright under gatt for works
> in the public domain--that all that makes it much more
> difficult for us to determine the copyright facts and
> create our derivative works legally.  when one then looks
> at the no electronic theft act and its extreme penalties
> for innocent publication on the net of digital works, one
> can see how these laws act to chill and suppress free speech.
> and LCL is a canon of the free speech movement.
> 
> thanks for your comment!
> 
> On Wed, Mar 08, 2000 at 01:18:10PM -0500, D.leach@[redacted] wrote:
> > Maybe you could pass it along. I believe it refers to fair use, but I'm
> the
> > kind of guy who dropped out of college as soon my probation period
> expired.
> >
> > Anyway, you've got a book, Lady Chatterly's Lover, at Bibliomania.com.
> For
> > free.    
> > http://www.bibliomania.com/Fiction/dhl/chat/index.html  Now of course,
> Lady
> > Chatterly's Lover ain't in the public domain stateside, being as it was
> > published 1928 and had the whole banned thing for a while.
> >
> > OK.  Here's where it gets weird.  LCL is public domain in the United
> > Kingdom, so bibliomania gets that company in India to digitize it, and
> sends
> > it up.  The Online Books Page has that whole "no U.S. access," but I don't
> > see that sort of thing on the bibliomania site.
> >
> > So here's the thing, Bibliomania, UK.  LCL been up there free to all for a
> > couple of years.  But the server for Bibliomania.com is not in the UK --
> > http://www.bibliomania.com/faq.html#4.3
> >
> > "The busiest day of the week is Tuesday (no idea why), the quietest is
> > Saturday. Popular titles include: Phrase and Fable, Websters Dictionary,
> The
> > Interpretation of Dreams, Culpeper's Complete Herbal. Popular authors
> > include: Dickens, Joyce, DH Lawrence.
> > About 50% of users are from USA and Canada, the rest all over the world.
> The        
> > server is located near WASHINGTON, DC."
> >
> > So, what do you think?  Has LCL entered the public domain on account of
> > "fair use" or whatever?  At least in the United States?  Given that,
> though
> > the site is owned by a British company, the electronic version of the text
> > is physically located in Northern Virginia?  And has been there for
> several
> > years?
> >
> > Puzzling...
> >
> > Good luck with your suit.
> >
> 
> --
> "Eric"  Eric Eldred  Eldritch Press
> mailto:Eldred@[redacted]
> http://www.eldritchpress.org/EricEldred.vcf