Public Domain Super Heroes
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813 is missing[]

Also known as The Three Crimes of Arsene Lupin.  It was published between The Hollow Needle and The Crystal Stopper.MithrandirOlorin (talk) 17:38, January 21, 2014 (UTC)

How can I research the PD status of post 1923 Lupin novels?[]

I really want to use the character of Countess Calgiostro, as well as the "Female British-Lupin" character from The Damsel wiht the Green Eyes.MithrandirOlorin (talk) 17:39, January 21, 2014 (UTC)

For international works, the easiest thing is to simply Google the author and see when they died. Maurice Leblanc died in 1941 and France has the same copyright length as the UK (life of the author + 70 years) making all of his work PD as of January 1, 2012. Cebr1979 (talk) 02:44, January 22, 2014 (UTC)

Thanks.  I'm in America though, and I do know in America the Doyle estate still tries to maintain control of the last few post 1923 Holmes stories.MithrandirOlorin (talk) 11:42, January 22, 2014 (UTC)

Sherlock Holmes is easy... He's PD. A judge ruled so just last month. You can read about it here and here.Cebr1979 (talk) 01:59, January 23, 2014 (UTC)

In reference to Cebr1979's comments above about international works, Leblanc's post-1923 is public domain in France but not in the US. I thought this was the case originally as well but upon further research I found that being in the public domain in its home country does not automatically mean that the work is also in the public domain in the U.S. This is because the U.S. does not follow the "rule of shorter term".

The rules in the U.S. for works published abroad are as follows:

  • If the work was published before 1923, it is in the public domain in the U.S. (With a caveat for works published without copyright notice)
  • If the work was published 1923 to 1995 (inclusive) and not copyrighted in its countries of origin in 1996, it is in the public domain in the U.S.
  • Otherwise, if the work was published before 1978, it is copyrighted in the U.S. for 95 years since the original publication (i.e. at least until 1923 + 95 = 2018), and if it was published 1978 or later, the work is copyrighted until 70 years after the (last surviving) author's death. Crimsoncrusader (talk) 04:44, January 29, 2014 (UTC)

A shame, it seems the other writers useing Josephine Balsamo aren't haveing any problems, maybe the LeBlanc estate is unaware.

Another note on 813, it was rewriten in 1917, both would be PD equally.  The rewrite is the basis for Lupin timelines placing the events of 813 after when it was first wrriten.MithrandirOlorin (talk) 00:14, July 2, 2016 (UTC)

Then feel free to add it.Cebr1979 (talk) 00:34, July 2, 2016 (UTC)
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