Translation copyright

> If the item is in the pulic domain, you can
> do the translation and then copyright your
> translation (yes, it is done).

But whats the use? Any other person can get the item from public domain and translate it again. Or is it that if a person has already translated a public domain item - and copyrighted it, it cannot be translated by any one else?


Read "Acres of Diamonds" for free

> But whats the use? Any other person can get
> the item from public domain and translate it
> again.

True. BUT. First they need to know that the item is in the public domain and then where to get it.

Take "Acres of Diamonds" for example. If I know where to get it from the public domain (Project Guttenberg) and then reformat it into whatever format I desire, I own the copyright on the new format. No-one else can just up and sell or give away the version I created. If they want to give away or sell Acres of Diamonds they also need to get it from the public domain and reformat it.

The majority of people do not know where to get public domain stuff nor how to find where to get it. And even those that do often cannot be bothered because it is so time consuming. And even if they do know where to get it and can be bothered, there is an advantage in being first.

Michael Ross


No public domain stuff here. All original content

Michael sums it up quite well. A couple of additional notes. If you copyright your version, then someone else can't even work from yours; i.e., they can't use your version to create another format or make a translation - they need to get one that is in the oublic domain to work with.

Tam