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Wikisource:Requested texts/Archives/2009

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  • Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Copyrighted in the United States until 2033
I do not believe this is correct. The first publication of the poem was in the March 7, 1923 issue of The New Republic. Later that year, Frost included it in a book of poems he published. Under the copyright law in effect in 1951, a copyright expired on the 28th anniversary of its date of first publication, unless the copyright was renewed within one year prior to the expiration of the original term of copyright. Frost did not renew the copyright of the poem by March 1951, instead renewing the copyright of the book published later in 1923 that contained the poem, by which time the poem itself had entered the public domain. (Not until the Copyright Act of 1976 did all copyright terms expire at the end of the calendar year.) Even if Frost had renewed the copyright in a timely manner, it would expire in 2018 (95 years after first publication), not 2033, seventy years after Frost's death. Life + 70 is only for works first published since 1978. — Walloon (talk) 01:59, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Works in the public domain in source countries but copyrighted in the USA

American non-acceptance of the rule of the shorter term may cause certain works to be considered copyrighted in the USA even if they are in the public domain in their source countries. If a work has been legally published in the USA and another jurisdiction, it is anyway subject to the USA copyright term even if the USA had accepted the rule of the shorter term.

Administrators: Whenever deleting works in the public domain in source countries but copyrighted in the USA, please list them below so they can be more easily submitted again if the USA accepts the rule of the shorter term.