It’s really complicated. It used to be a short time (IIRC 17 years). Then it was lengthened to lifetime. But the definition of lifetime is really complicated. It depends on who created the work (e.g. individual or group). And it may be defined in terms of the immediate heirs. Further complicated by a retroactive application of the law. Some works had already entered the public domain, but the former copyright owner could petition to have it extended and put on a list.
It can be nearly a hundred years. The laws differ by country and by treaty. And there is a current effort to make it even longer. We aren’t lawyers and try to err on the side of caution. In direct answer, based on what I read in the US copyright law (not wikipedia), works before 1940 that were in the PD at that time are fair game. But I am not a lawyer. DM > On Jan 22, 2016, at 10:26 AM, Greg Hellings <greg.helli...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Aren't all (or almost all) copyrights from before 1940 expired at this > point, under US Law? I thought there was a 76 year expiration on those > older copyrights. > > --Greg > > On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 8:32 AM, David Haslam <dfh...@googlemail.com> wrote: >> If anyone in a suitable jurisdiction is interested, here's the tech stuff. >> >> http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/Creating_and_Maintaining_a_Module_Repository >> >> David >> >> >> >> -- >> View this message in context: >> http://sword-dev.350566.n4.nabble.com/Hosting-non-US-public-domain-modules-tp4655871p4655877.html >> Sent from the SWORD Dev mailing list archive at Nabble.com. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel@crosswire.org >> http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel >> Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page > > _______________________________________________ > sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel@crosswire.org > http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel > Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page _______________________________________________ sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel@crosswire.org http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page
