I want to read Citrine’s ABC of Chairmanship on my tablet; who owns the copyright and when does it expire?
The Fabian copy states that it is ©Norman Citrine 1982, it also states that first edition is dated 1939 and the fourth edition in 1982.
The author, Walter Citrine died in 1983 and the standard copyright terms mean that his works expire in 2053. However given the first edition was published before 1978, does this term apply, although it seems this distinction is only relevant in US Law. Norman died in 1997. Walter’s wikipedia page says, “His autobiography Men and Work was published in 1964 and the second volume, Two Careers, in 1967. His personal papers are held at the London School of Economics. ”
However UK copyright applies to “Original literary works (for the purposes of UK law, this includes software);”, is the ABC of Chairmanship a literary work? Yes, it would seem, the British Library say,
The types of work protected by copyright include: books, novels, technical reports, manuals, paintings, sculptures, photographs, music, songs, dramatic works, films, television, and radio broadcasts, engineering, technical plans, promotional literature, advertising, computer software and databases
I am curious as to what the difference between an edition version and reprint is. It seems that for an individual authored work, the publication date is not important.
The Govt copyright site, says, to death of author + 70 years
This is a case where the value of the copyright and the value of the text is based on its authority rather than its originality and authority is granted by the readers.