Theos-Talk Archives (November 2003 Message tt00103)

Katinka Hesselink wrote:
> Still, how can John Cooper be said to have owned these letters? These
> letters are HPB's and I don't think it is fair to say that any one
> person or organisation has copyright over them. 
We're in an area where copyright law is kind of tricky. If the letters 
were published as soon as they were written, there would be no problem; 
the letters are public domain (although Cooper would still have what is 
called a "compilation copyright," which is another can of worms). 
Between that and the rules of ownership of letters (not to mention the 
differences in copyright law between Great Britain and the United 
States), this is a question for experts in the subject. I assume such 
experts were consulted.

Bart