copyright of old books

Hi all,

I have seen many versions of old books such as Napoleon Hill's Think And Grow Rich.
How can there be so many copyrights by so many publishers?

So can some publisher just copy the text and publish another version of the book?
:confused:

I have seen a trend now where publishers and digging out old books (author deceased), and reprinting them and even putting a copyright on it.

The author remains the same person, but since no longer around, the publisher doesn't need to share the profits with the author. Is that the case?
 
This all falls under copyright law which varies from country to country but in many cases X amount of years after first publication or X number of years after the author becomes deceased, their work falls into the public domain and can be used by anyone, in any way, for anything.
 
This all falls under copyright law which varies from country to country but in many cases X amount of years after first publication or X number of years after the author becomes deceased, their work falls into the public domain and can be used by anyone, in any way, for anything.

Hi Richard,
If someone uses the texts firsts, and puts a copyright on it, doesn't that mean the person now holds the new copyright? Will others doing so be infringing that copyright?
:mad:
 
If you want to know the answers to these questions, you will need to search online for the relevant laws for whatever country (of origin) you are curious about :)
 
Think and grow rich is in public donain along with many other books. There is no copyright on the text.
You are free to publish it in any country.

You can put a copyright on the layout, cover, foreword or any thing else that is yours but you or no one else owns the text!

It's a great way to market your business!
Publish public domain books under your own brand. I do it often.
 
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