Public domain

[Rob_Royale]

This is mostly for the folks who are publishing outside Lit for $$, as we can write most of what we want here under the fan-fiction umbrella.

I've an idea (huge idea) for a Lady Chatterly sequel. It is now in the public domain and other writers have played with that world in the past. But not in the way I'm planning. Unlike other titles that have differnet eras of their title that have different public domain dates, LCL has only the one.

Have any of you had trouble with Amazon/Smashwords etc, not publishing your work because they didn't want to risk it regardless of the legality?

 

[NotWise]

Can't tell you how publishers might deal with it. Sorry, I know that's what your asking.

I was curious, so I let Claude wade through the technicalities, and it says that as of January 1, 2024, the original version of Lady Chatterley's Lover is not protected under U.S. copyright law. Lawrence originally self-published the novel in 1928 without copyright protection. The expurgated 1932 version published in the US and England was also not protected under copyright law.

The 1928 version was placed under copyright protection in the US in 1996 by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which protected foreign-published books. That protection is what expired in 2024, 95 years after the original publication date.

Claude's response included a caution about using or quoting any detail specific to the 1959 version published in the US, but Claude also dismissed any real risk.

Claude's bottom line was "So a derivative work based on either version of the novel wouldn't infringe U.S. copyright today."

That all made me wonder which version I read when I was a teenager.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Can't tell you how publishers might deal with it. Sorry, I know that's what your asking.

I was curious, so I let Claude wade through the technicalities, and it says that as of January 1, 2024, the original version of Lady Chatterley's Lover is not protected under U.S. copyright law. Lawrence originally self-published the novel in 1928 without copyright protection. The expurgated 1932 version published in the US and England was also not protected under copyright law.

The 1928 version was placed under copyright protection in the US in 1996 by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which protected foreign-published books. That protection is what expired in 2024, 95 years after the original publication date.

Claude's response included a caution about using or quoting any detail specific to the 1959 version published in the US, but Claude also dismissed any real risk.

Claude's bottom line was "So a derivative work based on either version of the novel wouldn't infringe U.S. copyright today."

That all made me wonder which version I read when I was a teenager.

That's what I found out also.