Re: [FranzBardonMagi] ABardonCompanion Website Update -- [allegedly] Copyright material removed

[JohnWW <JohnWW@...>]

How long does legal copyright in written material subsist after the
death of the author in the country of origin of Franz Bardon's books
(either Germany or Czechoslovakia), or in the countries in which they
are being distributed? Here in New Zealand, it is for 50 years after the
death of the author, which is about the average policy in many countries
(there seems to be a range of from 20 to 75 years), and in some
countries the time runs from the date of publication. Franz Bardon died
in 1958, so in many countries their copyright either has already
expired, or will expire in a few years' time.

Who claims to presently hold the copyright to Franz Bardon's works, and
what evidence have they to support such a claim? They (e.g. Merkur
Publishing? or Dieter Ruggeberg?) should be asked to produce
satisfactory documentary evidence, in view of the uncertain and
controversial history of his works, and the fact that most of them were
first published only a very short time before his death, before you
consider yourself under any obligation to remove the allegedly "illegal"
PDFs of them from your website. You should certainly NOT take Merkur
Publishing's unsubstantiated word for it. If they claim copyrights, the
onus is upon them to prove it, not on you to disprove it, certainly
under the circumstances. I recommend, therefore, that you restore the
PDFs to your website until Merkur Publishing (or whoever) is asked for
and supplies satisfactory evidence of copyright. Do not allow yourself
to be "bullied".

And what does Merkur Publishing propose to do about
http://www.supervirtual.com.br/acervo/ in Brazil, which has the Bardon
PDFs mostly in Portuguese? I would think that the duration of copyright
protection in Brazil is probably shorter than in the U.S.A., or Germany
for that matter.

Many publishing firms are making small fortunes by publishing books by
deceased authors under false claims of copyright, even when the authors
have been dead so long that their copyrights have clearly expired. I can
name some.

John W.

Rawn Clark wrote:
> 
> Dear Friends,
> 
> This morning I was informed that Merkur Publishing has actively sought
> to have the illegal .pdf versions of the Ruggeberg editions of Bardon's
> books removed from the Internet. Apparently, this is why they are no
> longer posted on the "Rex Research" site.
> 
> Since this is the case, I have removed them from my website as of this
> morning.
> 
> My best to you,
> :) Rawn Clark
> 14 Feb 2003
> rawnclark@...
> rawn@...
> http://www.ABardonCompanion.com
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BardonPraxis