“Hi Logan & Debra, love your emails and work. I have become very familiar with copyright law and the differences between U.S. and U.K. law (I am in the U.K.).

There is something I just can’t seem to find the answer on though. In the U.S. everything published before 1923 is out of copyright and in the public domain although there is no such cut-off date in the U.K. where it’s a straight-forward lifetime of the author plus 70.

My question is, if something (e.g. a book) by a U.S. author was published in the U.S. prior to 1923, does the U.K. adopt the rule of the shorter term and also deem the publication to be out of copyright even if lifetime plus 70 hasn’t yet been reached?

It seems unlikely that a U.S. author/illustrator would sue for copyright breach when copyright has already expired in his own domain. Perhaps this is something you could cover in a future blog post? I am mainly interested in book illustrations and artwork. Thanks very much.”

Hi Sandie,

Public Domain works originally published in the United States before 1928 with no renewal of copyright protection in their 28th year after publication are definitely in the Public Domain in the United Kingdom as well.

It’s U.S. works that were renewed in their 28th year after publication as well as all items published after 1927 (regardless of whether copyright renewal occured) that you have to watch out for… [Read more →]