[dry_soup]

So the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, who died in 1973, will enter the public domain in New Zealand (and other countries) next year? Or do they not, as he presumably published his works in the UK? Or they enter the public domain in New Zealand et al. but not in other countries?

[mod50ack]

In Life+50 countries, they'll enter the public domain. In the UK and other Life+70 countries, they won't.

[galangalalgol]

So can they host the Gutenberg project in NZ then? There is no feasible way for people to prevent people from downloading the hobbit. They couldn't stop music or movie downloads except by adopting a subscription model that effectively reduced the prices. These files are tiny and the ethical case against it is so much harder to make.

Edit: also, these are the sorts of books that don't get lumped into subscriptions and are often missing from digital libraries.

[ginko]

What would be the New Zealand connection of Tolkien (other than the peter jackson movies)?

[mod50ack]

There's none. But the validity of a copyright of a work is dependent on the place in which you're applying the law, not on the place where the author is from (except when applying the rule of the shorter term).

Tons of works are in the public domain in one country, but not another.

[morepork]

Somewhat tenuous, but Tolkien was taught Old English at Oxford by a New Zealander, Kenneth Sisam[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Sisam

[hinkley]

It's just an English speaking country with a largish population and a more traditional copyright law.

[tptacek]

Presumably the films, which were famously all shot there.