Rule 6 HOWTO: Demonstrating Non-Renewal of Copyright Registration

Project Gutenberg is committed to complying with all copyright laws.
Please take particular care in doing this research so that Project
Gutenberg can clearly establish its good faith efforts in complying
with copyright requirements.

This "Rule 6" HOWTO covers only books initially published in the United
States, by US nationals, from January 1 1923 through December 31 1963.
If we can demonstrate that such a book did not have its copyright
renewed, then we can confirm that it is in the public domain in the US.

Based on our review of the US Library of Congress' historical renewal
records, we estimate that over 85% of all registered books are never
renewed, yet it is still quite important to follow all the procedures
below to make a safe judgment about a book's copyright status.

In addition to examining renewal, we need to consider whether any of
the authors were not US nationals.  Foreign authors might result in a
work being protected under certain treaty requirements ("GATT"). If
there is a question about the author(s)'s nationality, please provide
the information in the notes in the copyright clearance request and we
will look at it in more detail.

* To submit a Rule 6 clearance, please perform all of the steps listed
below.  Provide your confirmation of each of these steps in your
copyright clearance request at http://copy.pglaf.org.  Incomplete
submissions cannot be confirmed by Project Gutenberg as in the public
domain, and are therefore ineligible for the Project Gutenberg
collection.


1. Specify all initial publication data, including title, author(s),
   publisher, year of publication, copyright holder and whether the
   work was published in a serial like a journal, newspaper, or
   series.

2. Consult the Copyright Renewal Registers to look for a renewal
   record.  There are several sources, so you often need to
   look in more than one place.

   Project Gutenberg has published eBooks of all of the Book
   entries from the Copyright Renewal Register as eBooks
   #11800 (all volumes combined) through 11856.  These are not
   exhaustive for all entry types, since periodicals were
   only sometimes included.  

   A more complete set of data is here:
   http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/cce/ , including page
   scans of the same materials as the Project Gutenberg eBooks
   #11800 - 11856 (good for checking for possible typos in the
   eBooks), as well as the Periodicals sections not included
   in the PG eBooks.  This site also includes drama and artwork
   renewals 1950-1952, and all other nonmusical renewals for 1950.

   For records 1978 through 1992, you must also search at the US
   Library of Congress Web site:  http://www.copyright.gov/records/

   Basically, PG #11800 has (non-drama) book renewals for 1950-1977,
   periodicals renewals for 1950 only, and contributions to periodicals
   renewals for mid-1953 through 1977.  (It also has all other nonmusical
   renewals for 1950.)  Thus, #11800 cannot be the only source
   used for anything published in a periodical prior to 1955,
   nor for anything published after 1947 (items that needed to be
   renewed by 1975).  Additionally, it can only be used for books
   and (some) periodicals, not for other types of works (drama,
   artwork, music...).

3. Search the renewal register(s) for 4 years surrounding the required
   renewal year.  This is necessary because of flexibility in the
   required renewal year and the Library of Congress' publication schedule.

   Some publications have multiple copyright dates.  Search the
   four years surrounding *all* dates.

   Search +26, 27, 28 and 29 years from the publication date for each of:

   a. the title as it appears on the title page 

   b. the title of the series, serial, journal, newspaper, magazine,
      etc. (if any)

   c. the author (s) as listed

   d. the copyright holder as listed

In each case, use 'broad' search logic by using the key word (s) from
the titles and names in the search process.

If the item was renewed, then Rule 6 cannot be used to demonstrate
public domain status.  Do not submit a Rule 6 clearance request.

4. If the Copyright Renewal Register search provides no match for the
   searched items, then, review the material in the book
   (e.g. author's blurb, description) as well as any general knowledge
   you might have of any of the listed authors to determine if they
   might be a foreign national.

5. If there is no evidence of renewal or of foreign authorship based
   on performing the research above, insert the following in the notes
   section of your request for copyright clearance:
		
"I have searched the Copyright Renewal Records for 19__, 19__, 19__
and 19__ for the following words: [author], [title], [copyright
holder] [etc.] and have found no indication that this book's initial
copyright in 19__ was renewed.

I have also reviewed the materials in the book relating to the
nationality of the author(s) and have found 
   __ no reason or __
   the following reasons_________________________________

to believe that any of the authors was a foreign national."


If your research appears to be complete and accurate, a determination
of public domain status under Rule 6 will be made by the Project
Gutenberg copyright team.

If you have questions about this or any aspect of the copyright
clearance process, please email copyright AT pglaf.org

gbn 2005-05-28
updated 2005-09-10
updated 2008-08-04 [typos]