Chess history trivia

[John Upham]

(25 years from publication).

25 years or 70 years?

I remember when we (BCM) looked into dealing with the flood of reprints of BCM volumes coming from material scanned from USA University libraries we were advised 70 years was the criteria for UK publications.

J.

[John Townsend]

Further to Derrick Walker's post above, I was referring in my previous post to the obvious fact that Mr McCready has only to remove his unauthorized scans and the matter can be dropped on this Forum. Nothing more than that.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I believe in UK that copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author.

(Edited following expert correction...)

[MJMcCready]

Copyright and having ownership of reading material only exists so that you can profit from it. Yes it sounds petty minded because it is. The issue which is of far greater importance is the experience of great art/writing. The arguments being presented here are flawed because this copyright issue you keep harping on about benefits one person only; namely the owner of the works, whereas the experience of great writing/art benefits 10,000s thousands. My motives are sound, no doubt about it. It's a celebration of his work and that supersedes the laws regarding copyright, which serve individuals only. It is the greatness of art that is in play here. This website has so many problems due to contributors I would be up all night explaining them. In play here your replies are far too British. You need to move away from this 'do as your told, and follow the law mentality' that Brits have instilled into them. Life is not just about the rules, the rules, the rules, there are more important things in play. And I do not want to have to come on here and start telling people how to live their life, you can work that out for yourself.

[Gerard Killoran]

The Society of Authors, which has been defending the rights of authors since 1884, has written a defence of copyright law here:

https://www2.societyofauthors.org/where ... copyright/

Piracy

Book piracy is harmful to authors, publishers, booksellers and readers alike. In the digital age, electronic files can be created and spread widely within short time periods. Sharing illegal copies for free online means publishers lose out on sales and authors lose out on royalties. It also leads to a decline in the perceived value of a book. We oppose this form of online piracy in the strongest possible terms.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Authors

The SoA has counted among its members and presidents numerous notable writers and poets, including Tennyson (first president), George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Alasdair Gray, John Edward Masefield, Thomas Hardy, H. G. Wells, J. M. Barrie and E. M. Forster.

Well known contemporary members include Philip Pullman (SoA president from 2013 to March 2022), Malorie Blackman, Neil Gaiman, Philip Gross, Judith Kerr, Hilary Mantel, J. K. Rowling and Lemn Sissay.

It is possible that Mr McCready knows better than all the above, but I somehow doubt it.

[Derrick Walker]

(25 years from publication).

25 years or 70 years?

I remember when we (BCM) looked into dealing with the flood of reprints of BCM volumes coming from material scanned from USA University libraries we were advised 70 years was the criteria for UK publications.

J.

Two different copyright periods. The underpinning literary work is 70 years from the end of the year the author died (or the last author if it was a work of joint authorship). The 25 years is the copyright in the publication.

What that means is that they can copy the publication without a fee due to the publisher but would still have to pay a fee to the author of the literary work.

There was similar issues previously music, resulting in what became known as the ' Cliff Richard' amendment. The recording right of a song lasted 50 years from release but the duration of the copyright in the lyrics and music was 70 years after the death. So people released Cliff Richard (as well as others) recordings and only had to pay the authors of the music and lyrics, Cliff got nothing as he did not write the music or words. The law was subsequently changed to 70 years from release of the recording.

Spent 20 years working in Intellectual Property, mostly patents. Copyright is a minefield, but the ramblings of MJM made me smile as I had a couple of infringement cases in the past where such ramblings were also made on public forums - made the litigation very straightforward.

[MJMcCready]

Yeah use if producing great work is much better than copying it its greatness. Since I find writting passionante to be a passion more term should be sent on it than material which is being reproduced.

[NickFaulks]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Authors

Well known contemporary members include Philip Pullman (SoA president from 2013 to March 2022), Malorie Blackman, Neil Gaiman, Philip Gross, Judith Kerr, Hilary Mantel, J. K. Rowling and Lemn Sissay.

A splendid group no doubt, but it may not come as a surprise that the authors' trade union is in favour of more money for authors.

[John Upham]

Since I find writting passionante to be a passion more term should be sent on it than material which is being reproduced.

May we have a translation of the above please?

Did you get Mr. Howitt to construct that sentence or ChatGPT 4?

[Gerard Killoran]

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Authors

Well known contemporary members include Philip Pullman (SoA president from 2013 to March 2022), Malorie Blackman, Neil Gaiman, Philip Gross, Judith Kerr, Hilary Mantel, J. K. Rowling and Lemn Sissay.

A splendid group no doubt, but it may not come as a surprise that the authors' trade union is in favour of more money for authors.

Are you in favour of less?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"A splendid group no doubt, but it may not come as a surprise that the authors' trade union is in favour of more money for authors."

Both my books took considerable time and effort. When one of the publishers (Wolters Kluwer) then shows disinclination to pay the royalties due, it does become irritating, even more so, when Springer publish a second edition, without even contacting me... (and of course not paying the royalties.)

Writing books is hard work. I didn't copy wikipedia and we know Diggle didn't!

[NickFaulks]

Are you in favour of less?

I have no informed opinion. I was just making the rather obvious point that the opinions of these people, while very well informed, might contain an inbuilt bias.

If I were to wish to reproduce the work of a deceased author ( which I don't ), how would I find out who owned the copyright?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"If I were to wish to reproduce the work of a deceased author ( which I don't ), how would I find out who owned the copyright?"

A fair question.

My expert says,

"There's no register. Most authors assign their work to the publisher which is usually specified in the title pages. Failing that, you might ask any surviving relatives of the author.

There is a procedure for licensing "orphan works" where the copyright owner can't be traced."

[John Townsend]

Next question:

British chess suffered two significant losses during the year 1925. One was Antony Guest at the age of 68. The other died at the age of 76. Who was he?

[Mick Norris]

Was he born in Hull?