Talk:A Tribute and a Claim

A Tribute and a Claim

Poem written in 1946 and non-US author, and the author died in 1948. The date of death would put it post 1996, so this would be 70 years copyright in its home country, which is not reached, and still copyright in the US. — billinghurst sDrewth 04:48, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

I am in possession of the original written copy of this verse signed by D. D. Sheehan which I have inherited. How do I go about releasing it into the public domain? Thank you for your assistance. Osioni (talk) 12:07, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

It sounds like you own a copy of the book, there is no way for you to release it into the public domain. Release to public domain can only be done by the owner of the copyright, usually this is the author (who died in 1948) or someone who can prove that they have copyright control from the author. As a rule it this point it is just a mater of time. Given billinghurst statement above should be public domain in 2019. JeepdaySock (talk) 15:15, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you an heir to D.D. Sheehan? In that case copyright may indeed have passed to you. If, on the other hand, the person you inherited the document from came into possession by purchasing it, you probably do not have the copyright to release. If you do have the copyright, you might consider releasing the poem under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 and/or the GFDL, which allow free distribution but require attribution of the work. --Eliyak T·C 19:12, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the contributions. Yes, this long verse was written by my grandfather D. D. Sheehan. I inherited the typed and signed document which he left in his belongings. These were passed to me by my father. I would judge myself to be the copywrite owner? Osioni (talk) 09:46, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

The owners of the copyright are the estate of your grandfather. If there were specific terms about copyright they would be expressed in the will, otherwise they are inherited by and shared by the estate. These rights can then be determined through normal means by the executor. If you believe that you have inherited the rights (family matter to dispute and to resole, not us), then we would request that you follow the process at Commons:OTRS giving our permission with the appropriate copyright tag to host, though noting where it says Commons, we would substitute Wikisource. — billinghurst sDrewth 12:28, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

We would probably want commons to be included as in the OTRS as well, assuming Osioni has access to a scanner so if made Public Domain, we could include scans of the book for validation. JeepdaySock (talk) 14:49, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

D. D. Sheehan left no will. My father took over his small case of papers which other family members were not interested in. These my father passed to me in his lifetime. I can scan a copy of the typed, signed three page verse. Where do I go from there? (waiting until 2019 is no great bother really, I'll just be 86, but an earlier solution would be preferable having no family heirs). Osioni (talk) 09:59, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

He died intestate, your father inherited the papers. You inherited the papers from your father and that would indicate that you inherited the copyright, at least sufficient to speak for the heirs. I would suggest that you undertake the OTRS process, and state that you inherited the slip of paper and the copyright. If they wish for further evidence, they will let you know as part of that process. We will place a pending notice on the work, and leave this discussion open for the moment. — billinghurst sDrewth 15:55, 23 August 2011 (UTC) Email under the OTRS process sent today. Osioni (talk) 10:29, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Tag added above. Scanned JPGs integrated into a DjVu at File:A Tribute and a Claim.djvu. Don't know how to integrate that DjVu here, but I expect you guys can take it from here. Adrignola (talk) 16:29, 24 August 2011 (UTC)