Book People Archive

Peter Pan (the novel)

The latest Gutenberg newsletter contains the following:

> Jun 1991 Peter Pan, by James M. Barrie   (for U.S. only}   [peterxxx.xxx]
> 16C
>   (NOTE:  Please do not download Peter Pan outside the US; refer to the
>    etext for information on the copyright status)

Unless I'm missing something, this advisory is more conservative than necessary.
As far as I'm aware, the etext above can be downloaded anywhere except for
countries where copyright terms are life+70 years or longer (such as EU
countries).  The book also will remain under royalty distribution rights
in the UK after the UK copyright expires at the end of 2007, but royalties
don't apply to noncommercial publication in this case.

The salient facts are:

   -- The etext above is for the novel _Peter and Wendy_ by J. M. Barrie, first
        published in 1911, and later sometimes published under the title
        _Peter Pan_, with some annotations added for the etext version.

   -- Peter Pan had also appeared previously in _The Little White Bird_,
        published in 1902, and in the play _Peter Pan_ (*not* the same as
        the novel above), which debuted in 1904.  The script of the play
        was not published until 1928, however, so the copyright of the *play
        script* is still in force in the US.  (This doesn't affect the
        status of this etext, but it explains why you can't download the
        *play* from the main PG site.)

   -- J. M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, died in 1937.

   -- In 1988, the British Parliament granted the Great Ormond Street Hospital
       the right to royalties for "public performance, commercial publication,
       broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service of of the play
      'Peter Pan' by Sir James Matthew Barrie, or of any adaptation of that
       work, notwithstanding that copyright in the work expired on 31
       December 1987".
       (At the time, UK copyrights were life+50 years; they're now life+70.)

The upshot is:

 -- Gutenberg etext #16 is still under copyright in the UK and in
     any other country that has copyright terms of life+70 years or longer,
     The same is true of lots of other Gutenberg etexts.

 -- If "Peter and Wendy" is considered an adaptation of the play "Peter Pan",
    then in 2008, when the copyright expires in the UK, commercial publication
    of Gutenberg etext #16 in the UK will still be subject to royalty
    requirements. Note, however, that *noncommercial* publication of the
    sort PG usually does would not be subject to royalty.

 -- "Peter and Wendy" is public domain everywhere else, so Gutenberg etext #16
     should be downloadable not only in the US, but also in many other
     countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other life+50
     countries.  The UK wasn't making laws for most of those countries by 1988,
     and in any case the UK's special royalty provisions for Peter Pan
     don't apply to noncommercial publication of text.

A few other notes:

 -- There's a new copyright claimed on changed specific to Gutenberg etext #16.
    This would appear to apply only to new material in that etext.  The
    obvious new material in it would be the annotations in brackets.
    They can be removed if desired.  (I find them a bit of a distraction,
    but folks who are unfamiliar with some of the terms used in the book
    might find them helpful.)

 -- I'm skeptical about copyright claims to anything beyond those bracketed
    notes.  While the text does claim to have been prepared from several
    sources, it's not clear that significant originality was involved.
    Given the high frequency in errors in early PG versions, some of which
    persist in the present-day copy, and the lack of any citation of sources,
    I suspect that the original transcription just used whatever editions
    and equipment were available, without much editorial judgment other than
    what looked obviously right or wrong.

 -- The PG text could still use some proofreading.  I took a quick look at the
    start and spotted an error in the second paragraph ("there is was"
    should be "there it was") so I suspect there are still quite a few
    errors left in the text.  A good proof pass against a 1911 edition (or
    a later edition that has only the 1911 copyright) would probably squash
    many of the errors, and also clarify that there is no valid US copyright 
    still on the unannotated text. If someone want to do diffs, I notice
    that the Fireblade Coffeehouse copy lacks this particular error, so it
    might have either already have had another proof pass, or been prepared
    separately.

I hope this helps Peter Pan fly more widely.  If there's any important
information I've left out or misunderstood, please post.

John