NP - Finnegans Wake

[Mark Kohut]

I did some publishing history research regarding this question today, just for fun. I'm no lawyer, nor
have I talked to one but here is what I have learned.
 
Joyce got an agent who came to him and believed in him early-- @1915. He did Joyce's contracts,
crucial for copyrighting, of course. All books through Ulysses published before 1922 are now in public
domain. 
 
Short answer: Joyce hisself often placed Work in Progress [working title of FW] in small mags such as transition
outside of his agent. These were not copyrighted to him. 

So, that first draft version is all those before it was copyrighted in the US...(copyright in England is different and
FW seems to be in public domain there) 

 
From: Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com>
To: Albert Rolls <alprolls at earthlink.net>; David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> 
Cc: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: NP - Finnegans Wake


I don't think that article was wrong...something else at work here. 
 
 Joyce, James, 1882-1941: Finnegans Wake (1939; second edition 1950) (text in Canada; NO US ACCESS)

From: Albert Rolls <alprolls at earthlink.net>
To: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> 
Cc: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: NP - Finnegans Wake

I guess that article that said the Joyce estate was opposing ebooks was wrong or had incomplete info. 


-----Original Message-----
>From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>Sent: Jan 18, 2012 9:32 AM
>To: Albert Rolls <alprolls at earthlink.net>
>Cc: Bekah <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net>, Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: NP - Finnegans Wake
>
>http://www.trentu.ca/faculty/jjoyce/
>
>It's online.
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