When will The Chronicles of Narnia enter public domain?

Vanzetti

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Anyone have any idea?

With the copyright mood today, the answer is probably never. But formally, when will the copyright expire?
 
Wow! I never thought about that. I don't think they will ever since there's some many entities holding some or other rights. I will try to find out though.
 
What do you mean by public domain? Like someone else other than Lewis's family owning the rights to the books?:confused:

Public domain mean NO ONE owns the rights anymore. When a work becomes public domain, ANYONE can quote, use, download, etc. part or all of the story without asking for permission and without violating copyright.
like this website that has thousands of books that have become public domain for download. Enjoy
 
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Can copyright be renewed endlessly? Or is there a (clear) limit for it?

Good question. I don't know, and I can find nothing online to tell me.

If renewal is a one-time deal,then the Narnia books, having been published in the 50s and their copyrights renewed once after 28 years (the renewal deadline under copyright law at that time), then subjected to the amendments to copyright law since then, will enter public domain around 2046, if I'm figuring correctly.

The "70 years after death of the author" thing only applies to stuff published since 1978. The law was different before then.
 
"The "70 years after death of the author" thing only applies to stuff published since 1978. The law was different before then."

You may be right, Sunrise, but from what I got from the sites I visited, the 70-year rule applied to all works that were still under copyright protection (as well as some whose copyright had expired but hadn't pased the 70-year mark I believe).

It would be sest answered by someone in UK publishing or who definitively knows the law over there.

I guess one could ask someone at CS Lewis Pte. Ltd.

According to this Narnia site, the copyrights for each book were renewed in the years 1978-1984 (one per year based on published order--28 years after first publication).

MrBob
 
I hope that it never expires. Narnia books are clearly very popular decades after Mr. Lewis'death and I don't see why they would be less popular in the following decades. So I don't want to see poor authors trying to make a name of themselves using Narnia as a starting point.
 
Becoming public domain only means that you can access it and use it without permission. As a writer, you would still have to produce your original work if you want to be any good. I don't think anyone will be able to just "use" it to promote their careers.
 
Becoming public domain only means that you can access it and use it without permission. As a writer, you would still have to produce your original work if you want to be any good. I don't think anyone will be able to just "use" it to promote their careers.

LOL. Ever heard of Lovecraft? And the countless authors (some very successful) who worked and still work on his Cthulhu Mythos?
 
I always heard that it was 70 years after the most recent copyright. I will be to old to use it by then me thinks. I think that as long as Mr. Gresham is alive they will be renewing it every-so-often. In addition, Harper Collins will not let the copyright go to another company anytime soon so they will try to keep the copyright up to date.
 
I hope that it never expires. Narnia books are clearly very popular decades after Mr. Lewis'death and I don't see why they would be less popular in the following decades. So I don't want to see poor authors trying to make a name of themselves using Narnia as a starting point.

I'm always very torn about classics becoming public domain. Sometimes new authors can be very creative and their new work doesn't depart from the spirit of the original (Phantom, by Susan Kay, supposedly did this well), or sometimes the new story is an interesting reinterpretation of the original (The Starcatchers Trilogy, by Barry and Pearson, gave a fun origin story for the Disney version of Peter Pan).

I'm usually less okay with new authors continuing a story. I was not at all thrilled when Erik Van Lustbader continued Robert Ludlum's Bourne Identity series because he retconned Webb/Bourne's backstory, killed characters that had been integral to the original plot, and otherwise ignored established canon.

However, the difference between Narnia and the Bourne books is that Robert Ludlum made a point of both telling all of Bourne/Webb's backstory and concluding the main plotline. There wasn't anything left of the story to tell, which is why Van Lustbader didn't do a very good job when he tried.

Narnia has TONS of material left to draw from. Lewis himself said that he didn't think Susan's story was finished, and there's all sorts of stories that could be told about Narnia's history. What was the reign of Frank and Helen like? How did their children found Archenland? What was so special about Queen Swanwhite and her beauty? Who was Moonwood the hare? This is, after all, why some of us write fanfiction.

I know that if there were other published Narnia books, I would read them just to see if they were any good (heck, I've tracked down four of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books that take place in Narnia). If the author(s) kept the Christian-based mythology rather than just making them generic fantasy, and didn't just create random children to go to Narnia without a plausible reason, I'd probably be pleased with them.

I agree with Darth Sparhawk in that I wouldn't want to see authors writing in the Narnia world just because it's already established and popular and thus makes their book easier to sell. I'd want future authors to write the stories purely for the love of the world and to respect Lewis and his vision when they did so.
 
I have a big problem with modern authors continuing storylines; they don't tend to get the feel of the public atmosphere of the time that they were written. This is best evidenced by the majority the "sequels" to Pride and Prejudice all the ones that continue the story of Elizabeth and Darcy go into all of the bedroom stuff that would have been horrible taboo back in Jane's time. They talk of love-children or a marriage that becomes just as Mr. Bennet fears, unequal and strained, sometime these things happen in the same book. There is a reason why Jane did not put these things in her book and it wasn't wholy because she never married; she did not put them in because no respectable establishment in early 19th Century England would have sold her book (she already struggled to get it sold because of the Wickham incident). But I digress.


Let me just say this, if someone does do something about Narnia after the books go into Public Domain, they better not do it like Linda Berdoll and her cronies.
 
I have a big problem with modern authors continuing storylines; they don't tend to get the feel of the public atmosphere of the time that they were written. This is best evidenced by the majority the "sequels" to Pride and Prejudice all the ones that continue the story of Elizabeth and Darcy go into all of the bedroom stuff that would have been horrible taboo back in Jane's time. They talk of love-children or a marriage that becomes just as Mr. Bennet fears, unequal and strained, sometime these things happen in the same book. There is a reason why Jane did not put these things in her book and it wasn't wholy because she never married; she did not put them in because no respectable establishment in early 19th Century England would have sold her book (she already struggled to get it sold because of the Wickham incident). But I digress.


Let me just say this, if someone does do something about Narnia after the books go into Public Domain, they better not do it like Linda Berdoll and her cronies.

I know EXCTLY what you mean. I saw these so called sequals to P&P myself and they almost made my head spin and bile spew out of my mouth I was so mad. I couldn't even get past the comments from the critics . Seeing the words 'Sultry" "Sensual" and other words not fit to post here, in the description were enough for me.

Or look at some of the insanely poorly written sequals to A Christmas Carol. I've only found maybe one that was any good, but it still doesn't match up to Dicken's masterpiece.

Or on the subject of Lewis, look how many Screwtape inspired stories are out there. Only one author, Randy Alcorn has come close to doing anything remotly close to the original letters with "Lord Foulgrin's Letters" and he even wove in the original work as a "back-story". However most of the other ones are just horrible. If THAT entered public domain there would be no end of Screwtape inspired stories, soem even modernized. I mean do we really need "The Screwtape Text Messages?"

Also public domain would mean that any publishing house could publish the books. On the plus side it means we'd ahve a few versions in their original publication order. On the converse side however we'd have countless editions of the same books with more essays analyzing each book that you have to page through to find where the publishers sandwiched the story.

And worse... what if Phillip Pullman decided to work on them!
 
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