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Public Domain Question

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URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4501
Printed Date: 5/19/24 at 12:41pm
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Topic: Public Domain Question

Posted By: jayzehr
Subject: Public Domain Question
Date Posted: 3/06/10 at 2:04am

If Charley's Aunt was first produced in the 1890s, why isn't it the public domain by now?

Anybody know anything about that?

Replies:

Posted By: jayzehr
Date Posted: 3/06/10 at 8:45pm

So, I found one reference to "the public domain original" but nothing else. Samuel French wants royalties. According to the preface, the copyright has been renewed several times with at least one revision but what is now being licensed is the original 19th century version. Everything else I can find states that anything written before 1923 is in the public domain no matter what.

Not a burning issue for me, just curious.

Posted By: POB14
Date Posted: 3/18/10 at 3:49pm

Dunno. Thought I had an answer here earlier, but now I think I was wrong.

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POB
Old Bugger, Curmudgeon, and Antisocial B**tard

Posted By: SeanReidLaw
Date Posted: 6/24/10 at 11:16am

Are you sure that it is the ORIGIONAL script and not one of the many adaptations that have been created? Adaptations would have their own copyright.

Posted By: edh915
Date Posted: 6/24/10 at 11:15pm

I just happen to have a copy of "Charley's Aunt" recently purchased from Samuel French.

The title page says "This Acting Edition is printed from the MSS by Brandon Thomas as first performed in 1892."

The second page says, "Copyright 1935 by Jevan Roderick Brandon-Thomas and William Deane Barnes-Brand"

It would seem that although the play was first performed in 1892, it wasn't copyrighted until 1935.

Interesting...

Posted By: mark_j
Date Posted: 7/05/10 at 1:00am

The copyright should take effect the moment the play was written and it should last until 70 years after the author's death. At least that is how I understand it.

Posted By: jonplaywright
Date Posted: 9/03/10 at 4:39am

Current copyright law is life plus 70, but that's a more recent development. Best to visit the http://www.copyright.gov/ - US Copyright Office website for more information.

Cheers,
Jon

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Co-Chair, Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights
Resident Playwright, Final Draft

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