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Table from Wiki:

How do I find the copyright for old out of print books?

The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

For books copyrighted before 1978, you have to search through the renewal records.

Links:

Books published between 1923 & 1963 & had copyright renewed > Stanford Database

Google’s searchable scans of copyrights 1922-1977 > Google copyright search

Copyrights & renewals after 1978> United States Copyright Office

Here is an example.

The book The Show Case by Charles Grayson originally copyrighted on June 15, 1936. At that time, copyright right protection was set at 28 years plus another 28 years if the copyright was renewed and extended.

On May 25^th, 1964, Charles Grayson had the copyright extended for his book The Show Case another 28 years until the year 1992.

If the book’s copyright was not renewed in 1964, the book would have fallen into the public domain forever at that point in time. That is likely the case for the majority of the books published in 1936. But Charles Grayson renewed it and the book was set to enter the public domain in 1992.

That’s not the case anymore.

Since 1964, copyright right laws have changed. The book does not enter the public domain until after 2031.

How did that happen for a book (you’ve probably never heard of or will read ever) published in 1936?

The author, Charles Grayson died in 1973.

Since his death, three things happened to U.S. copyright protection laws.

• The Copyright Act of 1976
• Copyright Renewal Act of 1992
• Copyright Term Extension Act

From Wikipedia:

“The extension term for works copyrighted before 1978 that had not already entered the public domain was increased from twenty-eight years to forty-seven years, giving a total term of seventy-five years.”

Therefore under the Copyright Act of 1976 (law took effect in 1978), the still under copyright book had its copyright extended by 47 years and would have not gone into the public domain until 2011 (1936+28+47).

In effect, the book The Show Case was given a full term extension of 75 years (1936+75).

Then the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 passed. This Act gave books published after 1964 the automatic extension of 47 years of copyright extension without the author having to renew after 28 years. Basically at this point in time, copyright protection became 75 years instead of the previous 28 years.

From Wikipedia:

“Works copyrighted between January 1, 1964 and December 31, 1977 are affected by the 1992 Amendment. Renewal registration for these works was made optional by this amendment, and a second term was automatically secured…However, if a copyright originally secured before January 1, 1964, was not renewed at the proper time, protection would have expired at the end of the 28th calendar year of the copyright”

Under the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 law another plus twenty years were added to the extension:

“Twenty more years were added to the second term for works copyrighted between January 1, 1964 and December 31, 1977 by Public Law 105-298. This made the total duration of copyright for these works 95 years.”

According to the 1998 law, since Charles Grayson had his copyright for The Show Case properly renewed in 1964, the copyright was then extended by another 20 years to 2031 (1936+75+20).

But, the law extended copyright protection to the author’s life plus 70 years. Basically, copyright protection is 95 years or 70 years + the author’s life.

So, Charles Grayson died in 1973.

Only if the work was created after 1977 does a work get the 70 years + life. See Cornell copyright link.

Therefore the book The Showcase published in 1936 goes into the public domain after 2031.

In summary, for books published between and including the years 1964 and 1977, copyright protection is 95 years. Published before 1964, public domain depends on if the book had the copyright renewed or not. While Charles Grayson only expected another 28 years of copyright protection in 1964, he received another 39 years on top of the 28 years due to subsequent changes in copyright law.

It is possible for a book published in 1923 to not be in the public domain until after 2018  (1923+95) if the author took the time to have the copyright renewed! But because most authors didn’t renew their copyright, books published in or before 1963 have a very good chance of being in the public domain.

From Google,

“For U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963, the rights holder needed to submit a form to the U.S. Copyright Office renewing the copyright 28 years after publication. In most cases, books that were never renewed are now in the public domain. Estimates of how many books were renewed vary, but everyone agrees that most books weren’t renewed. If true, that means that the majority of U.S. books published between 1923 and 1963 are freely usable.”

I posted my first video post. Borders ran a 4 day special on their Kobo wifi ereader and I got one for a couple of reasons:

• Library compatible!
• The Kobo uses the epub and pdf format
• The Kobo has a SD slot to store epubs.
• E-ink makes for a better reading experience on the eyes.
• The Google eBookstore uses the epub and pdf format
• Wifi connection to the Borders bookstore.
• A $99.99 price point – a 4 day sale .

BTW, Kobo is an anagram for book.

Audiobook review for the Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed.  I checked the book out after Ben Bernanke recommended it.

First of all, let me tell you that I checked out the audio version for free from my local digital library. This was the first time I have ever checked out anything from the digital library. I downloaded the Overdrive listening software and was under the impression that once the return date came, the audiobook would somehow vanish. The lending period was seven days. At 18 hours long, it took a while to finish listening to Lords of Finance. I did not finish the audiobook in the seven day lending period.

Seven days passed and the audiobook did not vanish from my IPhone. Since there are a ton of titles available for download, I don’t know why I would ever need to buy an audiobook ever again. Maybe I am missing something. I haven’t checked anything out again yet. There has to be a catch. But I digress, let us go on to the review.

Stephen Hoye is the narrator of the Lords of Finance audiobook. Mr. Hoye did an excellent job and I would recommend listening to any audiobook that he has voiced.

I really enjoyed this book. I found a lot of parallels between the speculative stock market frenzy in the U.S. of the late 1920′s and the late 1990′s. Just like the days before the crash of the dot-com bubble, the 1920′s saw many stock market clubs of small-town investors who pooled their money together to speculate on stocks. And just like the late 1990′s, investors threw conventional wisdom out the window saying that things were different now and the market would continue to rise.

There are also parallels between the Great Depression and the United States housing boom financial crisis.

At the beginning of the Great Depression, Treasury secretary Mellon under Herbert Hoover stated, “Speculators who had lost money deserved it and should pay for their reckless behavior. The U.S economy was fundamentally sound and would rebound of its own accord.” Today, I can hear the same voices echoed in the Tea Party activists who denounce government bailouts.

There is a section about the Bank of United States. This bank was headquartered in Manhattan with many branches located throughout the city. Many of its depositors were small Jewish merchants. It was the run on the Bronx branch that is said to have started the collapse of the banking system during the Great Depression. It seems that P.J. Wolfson, a resident pharmacist in 1930, was very fortuitous to have left New York and switched careers at a time when a tidal wave of financial ruin hit.

The book highlights a lot of personalities of government officials around Europe and the U.S. who had great impacts on the world’s financial markets. Most importantly, the book provides insights into the mind of economist John Maynard Keynes. Given the context of the times, I learned how John Maynard Keynes made a fortune speculating on the currency markets and how it seemed how he alone understood what was going on in the world financial markets.

If you have any interest in economics, I highly recommend this book. Not only will you have a better grasp on what lead up to the Great Depression, you will gain knowledge about the gold standard, market psychology, the money supply, and the wisdom of John Maynard Keynes who stated that “In the long run, we are all dead”.

Barnes and Noble is the largest retailer of books in the United States. It is the second largest online book retailer after Amazon.

Ron Burkle is a corporate raider. Not always a bad thing. On September 28, 2010, he is set for a proxy battle with Barnes and Noble in an attempt to gain control over the direction of the company.

Burkle is going after Barnes and Noble for a very good reason. It is a very well known company with a depressed stock. Barnes and Noble is selling very close to its book value or breakup value. The stock price is low because investors see a lackluster record due to management failures and the erosion of the stock market due to the recession.

Ron Burkle knows the company is undervalued and here’s why:

• Its Brand Name – Perhaps B&N’s most valuable asset. One of the most recognized and respected.
• As a distributor of eBooks – B&N is in a very good position to take advantage of the coming boom in eBooks.

Boom times have come before for books. It was always associated with lower costs in printing and distribution. Couple that with people wanting to read their favorite books in a newer eBook format and you have a big-time money making machine.

“The postwar boom in mass market books began about two years after the conflict ended. It was in mid-1947 when publishers first noticed that reprints were
playing an important role in publishing totals. Book production costs, freed
from wartime controls, started the the long rise that has never stopped, and it
was clear that reprinting offered the best chance to keep a wide range of books
available to the public at prices that large numbers of people could afford to
pay.”
Tebbel, John. Between Covers – The Rise and Transformation of American Book Publishing. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987

With ebooks, this will be the biggest payday for distributors and publishers ever. Reprinting books has never been easier.

More than anything, Ron Burkle wants B&N for its ability to market and distribute intangible assets.