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About the Public Domain

            The U. S. Constitution allows copyrights to last for a "limited" time. However, the U.S. Congress has a very wide latitude in deciding how long that will be. Under the old law, that period of time was for 28 years, but copyright could be renewed for an additional 28 years. After that time had expired, the work went into the public domain. Once a work falls into the public domain, it can then be freely used or copied by anyone. Also, a work that is in the public domain can be changed in any way, by anybody, for any reason without consulting the original author.

            Under that old, unforgiving law, the copyright holder was required to file a renewal of the copyright in the 28th year. If this was not done, the work automatically became part of the public domain. The copyrights for the first and second editions of the book Alcoholics Anonymous ® were not renewed as required. For that reason, they are in the public domain in the United States. Of course, other countries have different laws. The first and second editions remain under copyright protection elsewhere.

            Also, everything that is new in the third and fourth editions is under copyright in the United States as well as elsewhere. This includes the forewords to the third and fourth editions and any new personal stories that weren’t first published in the first or second edition.

            The third and fourth editions fall under a newer and more forgiving law. They are in no danger of going into the public domain by accident. However, the new law is not retroactive. With few exceptions, the general rule is: once in the public domain, always in the public domain.

            By the way, the length of copyright protection was greatly extended by the new law. The new parts of the third and fourth editions will be protected for many, many years.