Book People Archive

UK copyright laws



Can someone please direct me to a website that states the UK copyright 
laws?  Google doesn't seem to know and I tried checking the British 
Library, but that was a disaster.  I would like to get a couple of books 
on Gutenberg that were published in 1923 in the UK, but they rejected 
them based on the copyright laws.

GB also a rejected a book that was first printed in the late 1800s, but 
had a more current printing date of 1959 and I don't understand that.  
According to our laws it would be public domain.  Is the UK that 
different?

Judy Elliott

[Moderator: I currently link to http://www.patent.gov.uk/copy.htm
 for an official summary of UK copyright laws, but I'd be happy
 to point to other sources as well if they're clearer or more complete.

  Note that the main Project Gutenberg, as a US-based operation,
 accepts books based on the copyright laws of the US.  But there's
 also Project Gutenberg Europe, which accepts books based on common European
 Union copyright standards (which are similar to standards in UK law.) - JMO]