Copyright & Public Domain

[jeloroc]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oregon.

Is there any aspect of a republished work from the public domain that can be copyrighted? For example, ancient texts, where access to the originals would be difficult to acquire, in order to copy it you must copy someone else's copy.

1. Can translations of public domain texts be copyrighted? (Not just from the original language to a new language but a re-translation into the new language. in other words, again using ancient texts as an example, a new scholar disagrees with a previous scholars translation and makes his own).

2. Do alterations to the text in essence make it a new text and therefore can be copyrighted?

3. Can new versions of PD texts be copyrighted? (For example a new version of the Bible).

Thank you.

 

[FlyingRon]

I see where you're digging here, something like the dead sea scrolls or something where the work is controlled. If you can't get to the underlying works (and these were never "published") then you are rather at the mercy of the translations.

A literal translation (lets say someone took Stephen King's latest novel and translated it into French) wouldn't have any creative effort so it would be solely covered by the copyright status on the original work. However, in these cases, the deciphering and translation does involve some scholarly creativity and hence the translated work may be protected by copyright.

The "how much do I gotta change something to change the copyright status" isn't a fixed formula.

Again, with the bible the translation isn't just a mechanical change from the original text into English. There's always some creative interpretation of what the underlying text says. Most of the modern translations are protected by copyright.

 

[jeloroc]

Thank you. That answered my question!