• About Graphic Classics’
E-texts and the Public Domain

Public domain is the legal name given to a work that is not protected by copyright. Anyone may copy, distribute, modify or adapt the work freely. Copyright law was created to protect the rights of the original creator(s) of a piece of literature, art, or music. After the death of the creator, the founders of our country intended that the works would then pass into the public domain. Popular and important works could then be widely distributed at low cost, and could be incorporated into other creations and sequels, or adapted to other forms such as stage plays and operas (or later, films and comics.)

The first United States Copyright Act (1790) provided for a term of 14 years, renewable for a second 14-year period.  Later the initial term was extended to 28 years, renewable for a possible total of 56 years.  The 1976 Copyright Act eliminated the renewal requirement, and gave works a life, plus 50 year term for individual authors and a flat 75-year term for “corporate authors” (works made for hire). This was a reasonable extension which allowed an author’s immediate family to benefit financially from the creator's works.

In 1998, Congress passed S.505, now generally known as the “Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act” (after the entertainer/legislator who sponsored the bill in the House), extending the term of copyright protection by another 20 years. The legislation covered new works, as well as those already in existence. The bill was lobbied and promoted by ASCAP (the music-licensing agency) and the film industry, particularly the Disney Corporation, which feared its Mickey Mouse character and early cartoons falling into the public domain. The bill was passed despite the objections, in a detailed statement to Congress, by sixty copyright and intellectual property law professors, who asserted that it was a bad deal for the public. They countered the arguments offered by the proponents of term extension and demonstrated the drastic and permanent harm to the public domain that extension would bring about. 

Unfortunately, the corporate interests prevailed. The result of the bill is that what was once a simple author’s life, plus 50 years copyright term is now an extremely complicated variety of copyright terms, registrations and extensions which is difficult to understand without specialized legal consultation. The only clear and uncontestable condition is that works published prior to 1923 are now in the public domain. US copyright law is also now at variance with that of other countries, most of which allow works into the public domain after author's life plus 70 years.

Most of the works adapted in the Graphic Classics series are from the pre-1923 period. Others are unrenewed works, or are licensed from the authors’ estates.

You can find more information about copyright and the public domain at these sites:

Cornell University Copyright Information Center

Arizona State University Opposing Copyright Extension Forum

University of Pennsylvania Online Books Page

Duke University Center for the Study of the Public Domain

The Duke University site offers a free, 74-page, downloadable explanation of copyright law, particularly as it applies to fair use, in comics form: Bound by Law?