Re: engraving comparisons and other "promotional" materials

[Carl Peterson]

On Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 10:30 AM, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:

So any extension announced after the death of an author should

not apply to the works of an author who labored under different
assumptions when creating the work.

+1

Indeed. That said, if a work is in the public domain, it's in the public domain. So while works created in the U.S. in the 1930s (which would have entered public domain 75 years after creation, if I recall correctly) have had their term extended with the U.S. adopting parts of the Berne Convention, the U.S. Congress cannot go back and grab works created in the 1910s which have passed into public domain. Granted, there could be a major upheaval of copyright that makes this happen, but the chances of this happening at this point seem to be minimal. On the other hand, the major media corporations (Disney being Exhibit A of this issue), may persuade governments to make it so that copyright keeps extending and works *never* pass into public domain.