book material pre-1900 ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
What are the legalities for using true life experiences written by someone in a book that was published late 19th century? Current editions of the book are available on Amazon, but the original was published late 1800s. Can I use experiences and such from that book (changing names of characters, buildings, etc) as material for part of a screenplay story, in spite of more recent publications of the book?
 
Here's a chart from UNC that might be useful. It lists what works are in the public domain, and therefore are freely useable, based on criteria such as date of publication. I of course haven't verified the information, but it seems consistent with what I've heard on the topic.

Kevin
 
Sorry I forgot to copy the link I had in mind, but the one you quoted was the one I intended.

Kevin
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
What are the legalities for using true life experiences written by someone in a book that was published late 19th century? Current editions of the book are available on Amazon, but the original was published late 1800s. Can I use experiences and such from that book (changing names of characters, buildings, etc) as material for part of a screenplay story, in spite of more recent publications of the book?
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In these sorts of cases, find a copy of the book that was published in the 19th century, and for which the copyright has expired, and no question that the book as printed is in the Public Domain.

A book printed in the recent era, could have additional items, comentary, forwards, or postscripts that could somehow be covered an in force copyright.

In the case of 'real' people, there may be an issue if there are any 'near' relatives, such as sons, daughters, grandchildren, or an estate that is still in force. There may be some restrictions relative to 'real people', even if one has a book on them, and the book is in PD status.

For example, if you were writing about Cornelius Vanderbilt, died 1877, and depicted him cavorting about with Victoria Woodhull (died 1927 ), and her sister Tennessee Claflin (died 1923 ) in some sort of sex orgie that passed as some sort of psychic seance... The relatives of at least Vanderbilt may take issue with such a depiction... even though it was rumored that Vanderbilt sponsored Woodhull and Claflin in their stock brokerage firm, and that Claflin was at one time his mistress, and that was well known in the era...
 
Excellent suggestion. I just found the original pre-1900 edition of the book available online digitally, so I am going to print it out later today (or maybe I will save a tree and keep it digital). I will just base my character loosely on the actual person, but having some material to go on will provide some guidance. Thanks again for the suggestion.
randall
 
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