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Can this be uploaded???...An E.C. Title, but posibly never renewed

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John C:
For that reason, I never get involved in those "policy decisions," but just stand by to check things.  If it was just me, I'd just post everything that didn't have a copyright and deal with the annoying lawyer folks if they ever show up.

I do somewhat worry that we're setting back public domain use, though, with these sorts of decisions.  It gives the continued impression that copyright works like trademark, in that if the company still exists, they MUST hold the copyright, by some magical definition, or if some magic number of publishers have used the property or "unimportant," then it's public domain.

Derived works, as discussed in another thread, can be very murky, but to me, the Library of Congress records should have pretty much the final say.  In other words, people should have access to Marvel Comics #1 and New Adventure Comics #27, because the public does own the rights to those books, regardless of who "might" (but probably wouldn't, if they're professionals, since they have no standing to sue) send a Cease and Desist letter.

Again, though, that's just me.

Poztron:
In a related vein, I have an IW title, Danger #15, which is a reprint of Timely's Spy Cases #26. Is that allowable?

John C:
Timely's off-limits here (and most places), and only a handful of copyrights (such as the Marvel Comics #1 I mentioned) seem to have snuck through, so probably not, siince IW rarely contributed any original material.

Yoc:
Nope, don't share it here P.  Scan if you like but this isn't the place for it.
---
John, I certainly understand your feelings.  We might well be within our rights but can we sit back and confidently say there's not a single non-PD work somewhere on the site?  Do we really want to antagonize DC to the point where they find something that might have slipped by us and perhaps make life unpleasant here?  We are a tiny island with almost zero funds basically living on the crumbs (wonderful crumbs we all love) of long forgotten works in a almost universally disparaged entertainment genre.  We are here to save those almost lost works as digital scans in an attempt to keep them alive for posterity.  If we pick a fight with someone that puts our main objective in jeopardy or perhaps shuts us down completely, how does being 'in the right' really help us?  I think if it means not hosting Marvel #1, More Fun, Moon Girl or New Adventures it's not a huge loss if it means we can safely continue to share the 1000s of other books we feel are safe for the site.

That's just my thoughts on the site, you results may vary as they like to say.
-Yoc

John C:

--- Quote from: Yoc on July 31, 2010, 01:48:59 PM ---can we sit back and confidently say there's not a single non-PD work somewhere on the site?

--- End quote ---

That's another issue and one that should be taken up one day (and the answer is actually fairly well-known).  The worry about misinformation doesn't just go in one direction, after all.

But I also don't think it's really "picking a fight."  DC doesn't have any interest in these books (the only character who's seen print in half a century is an unrecognizable Dr. Occult and that after a fifty year lapse) and they must know, through trivial inspection, that they don't own the copyright.  Warner Brothers has also been fairly lenient even with people who reproduce entire swaths of copyrighted titles.

Is there a chance that Marvel would go ballistic at Submariner's first appearance being given away free to the point that they call in big brother Eisner?  I suppose, even though they'd know that they'd lose the case and be forced to pay the defendant's legal fees--a long way to go to avoid a book that's been (presumably, at least) "pirated" already for years.

But if we're afraid of them, why no fear of Bill Black who's reprinted (and still gets revenue from) many of the stories here?  He has the same claim to those books as Marvel has to the first Marvel Comics.  Why no fear of DC coming after the Phantom Lady books?  They actually have a history of trying to block that one.  Why no fear of a random idiot with deep pockets who suddenly decides he owns every Golden Age Blue Beetle appearance?  That's much more likely.  Why no fear of a single artist's associate demanding all his material be removed?  That's already happened.

Again, it's something that can be taken up later, but as I see it, arbitrary decisions along these lines are what make copyright confusing to people and give companies the reputation of having exclusive rights when there are none.

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