RE: [seul-edu] [Fwd: Debian-kids goals (draft)]: cartoon characters

[Fredrik Liljegren <fredrik.liljegren@configura.com>]

> >um, I aqm not sure but I am positive that here in the US it 
> is 75 years
> >and that lobbying groups are pushing for 95 years. are there 
> any lawyers
> >in the list who have a clue on this?

> They also give this shorter mini-overview: "We cannot publish 
> any texts
> still in copyright. This generally means that our texts are 
> taken from books
> published pre-1923. (It's more complicated than that, as our 
> Copyright Page
> explains, but 1923 is a good first rule-of-thumb for the U.S.A.)"
> 
> For more detail, and for the international complications, we 
> will need an
> attorney's guidence (I am not one). 

Well, if there is a Copyright there has to be a copyright holder.  Many here
has said that e.g. Disneys characters couldn't be used, but that's all a
question of making the copyrights holder see it as positive.  Both for
Disney and whoever might hold the copyright of Alice in Wonderland this
could be seen as good free advertising.  Many cartoon-creators provide
windows themes or at least background images and screensavers; they might be
convinced to have them released for linux with a license that allows even
Debian to have it in it's main distribution.  Especially if they have others
willing to do the job for them!

As for olders and questionable copyrights; it could still be easier to ask
the one that might still be holding it.  The copyright holder, or perhaps
former copyright holder, of old children books, might just be happy with
giving us the right to do this.  You can't know before you've asked.

Regards, EOF