Post originally by Zoran Bekric at 2003-07-28 20:08:22
Converted from Phorums BB System



Dan wrote:
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<i>Because the United States didn't recognize the concept of a copyright extended 50 years past the death of the author until long after Fu Manchu debuted.</i>
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You're on slightly stronger ground here since Sax Rohmer (Arthur Henry Ward) moved to New York and lived there for the last part of his life and the later Fu Manchu stories were first published in the United States. As such, the later would be covered under U.S. copyright law.

However, the earliest Fu Manchu stories were published in Britain, which was a signatory to the Berne Convention at the time. What part of that is too complicated for you to understand? The backwardness of the U.S. in recognising certain notions doesn't apply outside the U.S. What part of that is going over your head?

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<i>If Fu Manchu stories were published in the U.S. as well, which I believe they were, the character would have entered public domain here following U.S. laws. That probably makes a good percentage of them public domain by now.</i>
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The Fu Manchu stories were indeed reprinted in the United States, but that doesn't invalidate their copyrights.

Again, you seem to have difficulty with the notion that the United States of America is not the be-all or the end-all of the universe. Stop trying to impose old American practice on the rest of the world.

Regards,

Zoran