Expiration of copywrite on printed matter

[john jackson]

Jan Bosselaers said:

"As far as Europe is concerned, I think works are protected by copyright until
50 years after the death of the writer. At least for works of literature and
musical compositions, if I'm not mistaken."

This was the case, but now the position for the European Economic Area
(which includes the European Union) is that copyright protection is for 70
years after the death of the author for most things - there are still some
works (audio recordings, I think) where 50 years applies, but illustrations
would be 70.

John Jackson


_____________________________

John Jackson
Science Policy Coordinator
Science Directorate, The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK
email  j.jackson at nhm.ac.uk    http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science/
tel  +44 (0)207 942 5257   fax  +44 (0)207 942  5765