Project:The copyright status of Wittgenstein’s works: Difference between revisions

Their country of origin is the United Kingdom. These works are in the public domain there because copyright on posthumously published literary works that were created before 1989 and first published less than 20 years after the author’s death copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death, and the author died before 1952.<ref>In the UK, as a general rule, copyright expires 70 years P.M.A. However, poshumously published works are subject to complex provisions. For authors, like Wittgenstein, who died before 1969, three scenarios may be applicable: (a) if the work was published before 1 August 1989 and the author died less than 20 years before the date of publication, then copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death; (b) if the work was published before 1 August 1989 and the author died more than 20 years before the date of publication, then copyright expires 50 years after the date of publication; (c) if the work was unpublished as of 1 August 1989, its copyright will expire on 31 December 1989. See Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Schedule 1 – Copyright: Transitional Provisions And Savings, section 12. For a more readable document, see ''{{plainlink|[https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/non-crown-copyright-flowchart.pdf Duration of Copyright (excluding Crown copyright)]}}'', The National Archives, retrieved 8 August 2022 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220421222606/https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/non-crown-copyright-flowchart.pdf archived URL]}}). These clauses do not affect Wittgenstein’s posthumous texts that are available on the Ludwig Wittgenstein Project’s website, because all those that have the UK as their country of origin were published within 20 years of Wittgenstein’s death. However, among Wittgenstein’s writings that were first published more than 20 years after the author’s death, those that fall under the scope of scenario (b) may still be copyrighted in the UK, and those that fall under the scope of scenario (c) certainly are.</ref> It is also in the public domain in Italy, because the copyright term for literary works there is 70 years P.M.A. and the author died before 1952.

Their country of origin is the United Kingdom. This work is in the public domain there because copyright on posthumously published literary works that were created before 1989 and first published less than 20 years after the author’s death copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death, and the author died before 1952. It is also in the public domain in Italy, because the copyright term for literary works there is 70 years P.M.A. and the author died before 1952.

Their country of origin is the United Kingdom. This work is in the public domain there because copyright on posthumously published literary works that were created before 1989 and first published less than 20 years after the author’s death copyright expires 70 years after the author’s death, and the author died before 1952. It is also in the public domain in Italy, because the copyright term for literary works there is 70 years P.M.A. and the author died before 1952.

If this were to count as the first edition, their country of origin would be the United Kingdom. This work is in the public domain there, as well as in Italy, because the copyright term for literary works in both countries is 70 years P.M.A. and the author died before 1952.

However, Ms-172, Ms-173, and Ms-176, in which Wittgenstein’s remarks on colour are contained and from which the 1977 edition was compiled, had already been published, albeit in a rather uncommon kind of edition. In 1967, looking to make the ''Nachlass'' available to scholars in its “raw” form, Cornell University microfilmed the corpus; the print version of the microfilms, i.e., a facsimile edition of (almost) the entire ''Nachlass'', was published by Cornell itself in 1968.<ref>''The Wittgenstein Papers'', Cornell University Libraries, Ithaca (NY) 1968. For more information, see A. Pichler, “{{plainlink|[https://www.inst.at/trans/10Nr/pichler10.htm Encoding Wittgenstein. Some Remarks on Wittgenstein’s ''Nachlass'', the ''Bergen Electronic Edition'', and future electronic publishing and networking”]}}, in ''Trans. Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften'', no. 10, January 2022, retrieved 30 July 2022 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220730162159/https://www.inst.at/trans/10Nr/pichler10.htm archived URL]}}).</ref> Even though it is a rather untypical book and even though, in particular, it lacks an imprint, the Cornell edition seems to meet the American legal definition of “publication”<ref>“‘Publication’ is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending.” Title 17 of the United States Code (17 U. S. C.) §101. By this definition, there is no minimum number of copies to be attained for the distribution to count as a publication, nor there is the need for a formal registration or commercialisation. As Peter Hirtle writes, however, the following should be noted: “‘Publication’ was not explicitly defined in the Copyright Law before 1976, but the 1909 Act indirectly indicated that publication was when copies of the first authorized edition were placed on sale, sold, or publicly distributed by the proprietor of the copyright or under his authority.” See ''{{plainlink|1=[https://guides.library.cornell.edu/copyright/publicdomain Copyright Term and the Public Domain]}}'', Cornell University Library, retrieved 30 July 2022 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220711133814/https://guides.library.cornell.edu/copyright/publicdomain archived URL]}}). The 1909 indication seems to stress commercialisation more than Title 17 does; at any rate, it seems that the Cornell edition was indeed sold to research institutes worldwide: see A. Pichler, “{{plainlink|[https://www.inst.at/trans/10Nr/pichler10.htm Encoding Wittgenstein. Some Remarks on Wittgenstein’s ''Nachlass'', the ''Bergen Electronic Edition'', and future electronic publishing and networking”]}}, in ''Trans. Internet-Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften'', no. 10, January 2022, retrieved 30 July 2022 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220730162159/https://www.inst.at/trans/10Nr/pichler10.htm archived URL]}}).</ref> and the ''Bemerkungen über die Farben'', which were part of this publication,<ref>M. Biggs, A. Pichler, “Wittgenstein: Two Source Catalogues and a Bibliography. Catalogues of the Published Texts and of the Published Diagrams, each Related to its Sources”, in ''Working Papers from the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen'', no. 7, 1993.</ref> must therefore be considered to have the US as their country of origin. Possibly because of being published by a university library for mere research purposes, however, this edition did not bear a copyright notice. Works first published in the US between 1927 and 1977 without a copyright notice are in the public domain there, because at the time this formality was a necessary condition for the work to be copyrighted at all.<ref name="hirtle-chart" /> Thus, the ''Bemerkungen über die Farben'' are in the public domain in their country of origin.

If this were to count as the first edition, its country of origin would be the United Kingdom. This work is in the public domain there, as well as in Italy, because the copyright term for literary works in both countries is 70 years P.M.A. and the author died before 1952.