tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post8695471553652028367..comments2024-03-15T11:42:21.265-04:00Comments on The Patry Copyright Blog: Iran and CopyrightWilliam Patryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-11345340808486151202008-01-03T03:53:00.000-05:002008-01-03T03:53:00.000-05:00Meh.I'd rather see the US withdraw from copyright ...Meh.<BR/><BR/>I'd rather see the US withdraw from copyright treaties, unilaterally offer national treatment to everyone (since, after all, the nationality of an author doesn't matter when we're merely trying to promote progress), but to require registration, deposit, etc., using a term based on first publication anywhere in the world, for a very broad definition of publication (e.g. public performance or display).<BR/><BR/>As for unpublished works, there's never been that much of a good reason to protect them. None really, if the author isn't actively planning on publishing them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-78622464882637049122008-01-02T18:28:00.000-05:002008-01-02T18:28:00.000-05:00Hi Michael,no as you might have suspected from the...Hi Michael,no as you might have suspected from the 1925 to 1927 edition dates, that is the period in question. Here is the relevant discussion from the court on that issue:<BR/><BR/>"The defendants do not dispute the fact that at the time of the hearing below they were about to publish and sell their edition of ‘Mein Kampf‘; indeed, they admit this in their answer. They justify their conduct on two grounds: first, that the American copyrights issued in this case were invalid, because the author, Adolf Hitler, was ‘stateless‘ at the times they were issued, and second, that the plaintiff never acquired title to the copyrights. We shall discuss these claims in order.<BR/><BR/>First. A certificate of copyright registration of Volume I of ‘Mein Kampf‘ was issued by the United States Copyright Office in 1925 to Franz Eher Nachfolger G.m.b.H., of Munich, Germany, claimant of the copyright and publisher of the German edition of the book. In the application for the copyright, dated February 15, 1925, this publisher, in answer to the question on the application which read, ‘Country of which the author or translator is a citizen or subject,‘ replied, ‘Staatenloser Deutscher.‘ A certificate of copyright registration of Volume 2 of ‘Mein Kampf‘ was issued early in 1927 to the same concern. In its application dated December 24, 1926, the publisher answered this same question as to the author's country with the word ‘Osterreich.‘ Defendants by extensive affidavits have produced evidence from German newspapers and other publications to the effect that on both occasions Adolf Hitler was a stateless person, a citizen or subject of no country, since, being born a citizen of Austria, he had served in the German army in the World War and had refused to respond to a call for service in the Austrian army. Plaintiff asserts its intent to offer proof at the trial that Hitler did not lose his Austrian citizenship, but, admitting for this motion that the author was stateless, nevertheless argues that the copyrights are valid on the ground that a stateless person is entitled to the benefits of the American copyright laws."William Patryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12987498082479617363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12505562.post-39189508315312434412008-01-02T16:47:00.000-05:002008-01-02T16:47:00.000-05:00Did the Second Circuit really get Hitler's citizen...Did the Second Circuit really get Hitler's citizenship status wrong? There was a time in the 1920s when he wasn't a German citizen and could have easily been expelled, perhaps putting an end to a Nazi party that depended on his speaking skills. But when the Nazi party began winning elections, they gave him a post that carried with it citizenship. By 1933 he was most certainly a German citizen. He couldn't have become German Chancellor if he wasn't.<BR/><BR/>Perhaps the court in 1939 was referring to the situation at the time Mein Kampf was published in the mid-1920s.<BR/><BR/>For what it's worth, my Houghton Mifflin edition, purchased back in the 1980s, contains a string of copyrights:<BR/><BR/>Renewed 1971 by HM<BR/>1945 by HM<BR/>1925 by Verlag Frz Eher Nachf, GMBH<BR/>1927 by Verlag Frz Eher Nachf, GMBH<BR/><BR/>The last two were, I suspect, the book's publisher.<BR/><BR/>--Michael W. Perry, editor of <I>Chesterton on War: Battling the Ideas and Movements that Led to Nazism and World War II </I> (out in January)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com