copyright uncertainty

[ProudPrimate]

Thanks to your previous posting of 1984, I have a copy on my PDA (often referred to in conversation and contemplation). I see you have now found it necessary to withdraw that posting. Question: was posting and having to withdraw a regrettable experience, with harsh consequences?

Because I have just scanned and OCR'd the complete text of a book, the thirdworldtraveler.comfirst two chapters of which are already online[/URL] as "Fair Use", and which I find no reference to in the copyright website, although some half dozen of his works are mentioned there.

The book in question, Facts and Fascism was published by his own private firm In Fact, Inc. in 1943. This book is so important to the understanding of what we are facing today, ie., the possibly imminent death of our democratic republic at the hands of the wealthiest elites, the same ones who have been planning and working towards a return to feudalism, ever since the New Deal, ever since the Emancipation Proclamation, Les Droits des Hommes, the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta.

So I'm hoping it's now in the public domain, and I would very much like to post it on my website, ProudPrimate.com. Based on your experience, would it be too risky, or only mildly so, simply to post it with, say, a notice that, while it appears to be PD, I will gladly remove it if a credible claim is made by a rights holder?

Thanks for all you do, and for your attention to this question

[Extrocomp]

I too am very interested to know whether 1984 is under copyright or in public domain. At the time it was registered, a copyright term lasted 28 years under United States law but Sonia Brownell Orwell renewed the copyright in 1977. Under current law, the novel should be under copyright until 2044 in the United States and 2020 in the European Union. It is already public domain in Canada and Australia.

However, I suspect that for some reason the novel is now in public domain in the US. I've looked in the US Copyright Office Records database and there are many copyrights for things relating to the novel: the movie, screenplays, music, study guides, plays, forewords, prefaces, introductions, audio versions - you name it. Everything except the actual text of the novel. The Estate of Sonia Brownell Orwell owns the copyright to the "facsimile of the extant manuscript" version which is kind of a work-in-progress version written in George Orwell's handwriting. I believe it's possible for a copyright holder to donate their work to public domain so this might've happened at some point in time.

I suppose the best way to find out is to put it on your website and see if anyone calls.

[Logos]

Most works published pre-1923 are in the public domain.

No, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (published 1949) is not in the public domain in the United States, where this website is owned/based. A London, England-based company is the Agent for the Orwell estate.

More copyright info regarding the U.S. and this site can be found here:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17769