[pd-discuss] How to build a public domain calculator?

[Angelopoulos, C.J.]

Hi Jonathan and all,

I did sent a reply to Jonathan's last post last week, but that doesn't
seem to have made it through, so I'll just repeat what I said then very
briefly now: yes, our initial intention at IVIR was indeed to prepare a
second, more elaborate questionnaire than the one Jonathan has linked
to, but to be honest, the differences between the "simple" and
"detailed" versions aren't really all that many... As it turned out, the
issues opened by a close inspection of the Term Directive are quite a
few and not easily simplified! In any case, I'll send in the more
complicated version to you, Jonathan, and we can choose which one we
want to rely on...

Other than that: after taking a closer look at the questions for the
experts up on Google docs spreadsheet, I did have the following
comments/questions:

-	I am a bit confused by the second question as it seems to
conflate the issues of parallel ownership by multiple owners over a
single work with the issue of works that have been published in multiple
parts, instalments, issues or episodes... 

-	On that note, even when handling the question of multiple
authors alone, I think a distinction should be made between works of
joint authorship, collective works and compilations. Are these
possibilities offered different legal treatment in national law? (I'm
using the terms in their British work here, i.e.:  works of joint
authorship = works produced by collaboration where the contributions of
the various authors are not distinct from each other / collective work =
works produced by collaboration where the contributions of the
collaborators are separate from each other / compilations = the compiler
is author of the whole, although there may be several different works by
other authors represented in the collection.)

-	At any rate, I think it is important at least for EU Member
States to include a question asking how works of joint authorship and
collective works are defined in the national jurisdiction, given that
the terms are mentioned in the Term Directive, but not harmonised...

-	Should we include a question about anonymous or pseudonymous
works? 

-	Should we include a question about maybe cinematographic and
audiovisual works or other types of copyright-protected works that might
still get separate treatment? (or is this intended to be covered by Q.4?
I actually find its wording rather confusing...)

-	Should we include a question about related rights?

-	Should we include a question about moral rights?

-	Perhaps we can expand on the last question a bit (or add
separate questions) to include examples of provisions such as the French
ones for works created during the First and Second World Wars or works
that are granted protection longer than the national norm (e.g. Peter
Pan)?

I hope this helps a bit! Comments and suggestions most welcome of
course!

All the best,

Christina