Navako,

The issue here may be the same as with Gunnar, the difference between
"copyright" protection and author's rights. Again, there is little practical
difference as far as we are concerned.

Australia:

Previously posted quote:
In February 2004 the Australian government announced that protection in
Australia would be extended to life plus seventy years, as part of
implementation of the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement.
Source: (Not a government agency)
http://www.caslon.com.au/ipguide18.htm


Similar:
The duration and breadth of copyright protection
As pointed out above, the AUSFTA extends the duration of protection for
copyright material, with article 17.4.4 requiring protection for 70 years
after the death of the creator rather than the 50 years protection in
Australia at present. The US extended copyright protection from 50 years to
70 years in 1998 with the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act
1998.

[Further extended to 75 years]

Looks like a government agency:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/rp/2003-04/04rp14.htm#dur

If I am incorrect in interpreting the above and this remains in the
discussion stage, as some of the resources discussing this issue indicate,
my apologies.

US:

Here is a link to a table providing a breakdown of what is covered and what
is in Public Domain in the US:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm


I dislike being wrong, worse, just after 'being dismayed' by statements put
in absolute terms concerning the Buddha's language, here I go making
absolute statements about something where even when I have read so-called
government documents concerning the subject I should have been aware of the
possibility that the documents were wrong, etc. So starting my contribution
to this discussion again I would say: "It is my belief..." I fall into this
trap all the time...work'n on it down here boss!

As I see it the point of determining what we are able to do and not to do
here is focused on two uses:

1. Buddhists doing DhammaVicaya for themselves. Here I believe we are now
clear: An individual may copy for his own use any and every publication
available. Further, as far as I can see [that is 'I believe'!] this
collection could then be copied by that individual and given to another
researcher, and so forth. One at a time, person to person.

2. The need for publication of a Public Domain [Free] edition of the entire
Cannon in as many versions as there are. This is the most effective antidote
to the fracturing of the system into schools based on various Pali texts,
various translations, various teachers. If it is all available, then anyone
who takes the word of one [only] of these schools is doing so at his own
risk with no one but himself to blame.


Take Care;
and may your life be long and happy!
Michael Olds

-----Original Message-----
From: navako [mailto:navako@...]
Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 7:57 AM
To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Pali] Public domain in australia





Re: the point raised by Michael Olds:

> Australia is a member of the Bern Convention and therefore has
> the same copyright laws as the US and England. That means copyright is

based

> on the date of death of an author or authors. And the term is 75 years not
> 70...it was extended.

That is not correct; in Australia, the law is 50 years from the date of the
author's death. Fifty years --not 70 or 75. And this is being actively
exploited by the following free e-text website, which quotes the law in
question:
http://gutenberg.net.au/

As I understand the Bern Convention (and I am susceptible to error) it only
involves one country recognising another's law, not the harmonization of the
laws themselves. Thus, Mickey Mouse was invented in the U.S.A., and his
american copyright (with duration, etc., determined by U.S. law) will be
observed in the U.K., and other signatories to the treaty. HOWEVER, this
does not mean that the British house of Parliament has no control over its
own copyright laws; if they decide to change or abrogate their own laws,
they may do so, but it will only apply to British inventions --obviously,
they do not have sovereignty over America, nor vice-versa.

The number of countries on the map that do not have any such laws is small,
likely to grow: the AIDS epidemic is causing many to reconsider the right of
"intellectual property" when weighed against the misery of millions.

E.M.

--
A saying of the Buddha from http://metta.lk/
Get your Dhamma Books from http://books.metta.lk/
Should a person commit evil, he should not do it again and again; he should
not find pleasure therein: painful is the accumulation of evil.
Random Dhammapada Verse 117






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