Surely the internet will know-- exact copyright date for cataloging?
September 16, 2014 9:26 PM Subscribe
If I had an ISBN and CIP, including a copyright year, would the exact date of copyright also be findable? I have the year, but how could I get the month and day?
I have to input copyright dates as YYYYMMDD, and so far all I'm able to do is something like 20130000 because I don't have a source on the MMDD, and this vexes me. But it seems like that information should be readily accessible. The books I'm cataloging are sometimes only in Amicus/NLC, sometimes also in LoC, if that matters. And I'd like it to be a source other than "just ask the publisher." Where should I be looking?
I have to input copyright dates as YYYYMMDD, and so far all I'm able to do is something like 20130000 because I don't have a source on the MMDD, and this vexes me. But it seems like that information should be readily accessible. The books I'm cataloging are sometimes only in Amicus/NLC, sometimes also in LoC, if that matters. And I'd like it to be a source other than "just ask the publisher." Where should I be looking?
Best answer: If you're looking for the registered date, that should be available in clavicle's link above.
If you want the actual copyright date, well, good luck to you. It's not really something anyone tracks, in large part because it is murky. In the United States copyright exists the moment some creative expression is "fixed in a medium". So... let's say you're talking about a published paper.
There's the date of publication, but copyright existed far before that. There's the date the final edit was made, but that's also probably not the earliest copyright date available. There's the point at which the author sent it off to the editors and wipe his/her hands of it . . . but it was probably copyrighted before that, too. You can see where this is going.
Whether or not any of this matters depends on what you need those dates for. I'd imagine either registration date or publication date, whichever is earlier, will probably suffice.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:08 PM on September 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
If you want the actual copyright date, well, good luck to you. It's not really something anyone tracks, in large part because it is murky. In the United States copyright exists the moment some creative expression is "fixed in a medium". So... let's say you're talking about a published paper.
There's the date of publication, but copyright existed far before that. There's the date the final edit was made, but that's also probably not the earliest copyright date available. There's the point at which the author sent it off to the editors and wipe his/her hands of it . . . but it was probably copyrighted before that, too. You can see where this is going.
Whether or not any of this matters depends on what you need those dates for. I'd imagine either registration date or publication date, whichever is earlier, will probably suffice.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:08 PM on September 16, 2014 [1 favorite]
In the US, copyrights expire on December 31st of whatever year it was that they are supposed to expire:
So month/day of a "copyright date" are irrelevant, for validity purposes.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:56 PM on September 17, 2014
The 1976 Copyright Act provides that all terms of copyright will run through the end of the calendar year in which they expire. This provision affects the duration of all copyrights, including those in either their first or their second term on January 1, 1978. For works eligible for renewal, the renewal filing period begins on December 31 of the 27th year of the copyright term.Source: pg 3 of this Copyright Office document.
So month/day of a "copyright date" are irrelevant, for validity purposes.
posted by sparklemotion at 12:56 PM on September 17, 2014
Response by poster: It seems weird that we have the option of inputting a copyright month/day if copyright isn't as fixed in time as it seems like it should be, but I guess it's there because every other field requiring a date has a YYYYMMDD format. So I'll stop worrying. Thanks!
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:32 PM on November 30, 2014
posted by blnkfrnk at 11:32 PM on November 30, 2014
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posted by clavicle at 9:31 PM on September 16, 2014