[Y-Indology] Copyright for older Indian books

[Guest guest]

Dear Mr. Spier,

Jai Jinendra

 

To the best of my knowledge, the rule used to be that the copyright for any

original work by a writer stays with the writer and his/her nominees till 50

years afer the death of the writer. After that, it becomes national property.

Munshi Premchand passed away on 08/10/1936, and if I remember correctly,

in the mid-eighties everyone started publishing Premcand Sahitya as it had

become copyright-free.

 

But you might want to check this with a lawyer. For religious books this

copyright law does apply but is not followed so scrupulously. For instance, my

great-grandfather's (Pt. Nathuramji Premi) tremendous work on Jain History,

Jain Sanskriti, and his numerous edited works of the basic Sanskrit - Prakrit

works of the Digamber parampara are now being published by various

organisations, and no one bother to ask us for copyright permission. Recently

LD Institute of Indology (A'bad) approached us for permission to reprint

Dada's "Jain Sahitya aur Itihas" and we granted it to them without charging a

single paisa as royalty.

Poojya Dada passed way on 30/01/1960 so the copyright is still with us.

 

A) So if you are planning to reproduce religious books on the net, there

should not be any problem.

 

B) I do not know about this.

 

Manish

 

````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````\

`````````````````````````````````````````````

Manish Modi

 

HINDI GRANTH KARYALAY

http://www.hindibooks.8m.com

Booksellers and Publishers

Hirabaug, C. P. Tank,

Mumbai 400004 INDIA

Phone: +91-22-23826739

Email: manish.modi

 

»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«

 

"Life is like a circle, slowly turning on itself.

Everything you do today will reflect on your tomorrow."

 

»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«.,¸¸,.·«»·.,¸¸,.»§«»§«