The Public Domain Tracker

By Dick Eastman
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

Would you like to reprint an old genealogy book? How about reprinting just part of it? Does it still fall under copyright protection? The laws are complex, having evolved over time. You need to look a the year in which the work was published and, sometimes, also see if there was a copyright claim in the original work. It might take hours to figure out if the book is still under copyright protection or not. Luckily, Peter B. Hirtle at Cornell University has created a handy-dandy reference guide that simplifies the process.

"Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States" is a reference that covers books, movies, sound recordings, and even architectural works. It is a reference for U.S. copyright laws, and covers works published in the United States as well as overseas. It is easy to read and can save you a lot of problems.

"Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States" may be found at http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm

Note: To see the original article in Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and some possibly pertinent comments on it: Click Here.