Book People Archive

Re: [gweekly] Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter -- Week #34-2007



Klaus Graf wrote:
> I do not think it's a good idea to post such books without sufficient
> metadata including the copyright basic facts for countries outside the
> US, id est: life data of author and illustrator.

Actually, both Gutenberg and The Online Books Page have been adding date
information on their authors over time.  I can't speak for exactly what
Gutenberg does, but on the OLBP we've been normalizing to Library of
Congress authorized forms, which often include dates, and also adding
dates when they're known and not in an authorized heading.  (In the
latter case, the concern you raise, copyright clearance,
is one of the main reasons why I've been adding this information.)

Our date data isn't yet complete, but it's in progress.  If you have
reliable date information on authors in my index for which I don't yet
have dates, please send it to me--  I'd be very happy to include it.
(I'd imagine Gutenberg would be interested in getting this information as well.)

After verification, I've gone ahead and added the date metadata to my own
Gutenberg database entry for the book you mention.  You can see my entry at

   http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=22413

(You have to click on the names to see full date information.)

> I do not know whether the 1919 Copyright notice is in compliance with
> US formalities

US formalities require the term "Copyright" (or a few recognized shorthands,
like c-in-a-circle or "Copr."), a date, and a claimant.  Looking at
the etext above, all of these elements are present in the copyright notice,
so it complies with US formalities, making it now public domain throughout
the US (including in the Ninth Circuit, where I'm not located but where
the Twin Books case you linked to applies.)

I hope this helps,

   John