From: Iris Brest <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 21:41:40 +0000 Assuming that Mr. Frank's changes created a copyrightable work distinct from Anne Frank's original, has the original ever been published? If not, when does it fall into the public domain, and who has access to enough information to determine what the original work actually is? Iris Brest -----Original Message----- From: LibLicense-L Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of LIBLICENSE Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2015 4:37 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Co-authoring and copyright From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 08:59:16 -0700 Some will have seen this in the New York Times: Anne Frank’s Diary Gains ‘Co-Author’ in Copyright Move http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/books/anne-frank-has-a-co-as-diary-gains-co-author-in-legal-move.html The narrow question is whether her father's editorial intervention entitles him to status as co-author and thus extends copyright to 70 years past his death (in 1980); otherwise the work would go into the public domain this year. There are other issues, not least the competition between two foundations, one in Basel, one in Amsterdam, the latter of which has been planning a web edition of the diary, open access, to appear when the copyright expires. The father's foundation in Basel that owns the copyright supports work to eradicate prejudice and racism and offers medical support for holocaust survivors and surviving individuals who protected Jews in Nazi times. I can find only a German wikipedia article: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank-Fonds So there conflicting legal and ethical views of this. I would offer a strategic question. For the years 2015-2050 (the extension based on the father's date of death), what advances the beneficial effect to be gotten from this near-miraculous survival of a text that has meant much to many: the dedicated application of the foundation's profits or the extended audience for the book? I am persuaded for the latter, mainly because I worry so much about the disappearance from cultural view of much of the heritage of the 20th century if we do not succeed in making the books of the 40s, 50s, 60s available in networked digital form. Does an author's estate do the author and his/her work more good by collecting royalties or by making the work more widely known and accessible? Even Anne Frank could be forgotten: what would prevent that most effectively? Jim O'Donnell ASU