Copyright status (in USA) of New Westminster Hymnal 1939?
  • shawnk
    Posts: 57
    Can anyone shed some light on this question?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    For works first published abroad, the US generally honors the foreign copyright.
    Thanked by 2a_f_hawkins shawnk
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,371
    The publisher's copyright in the physical layout would be 25 years from 1939. OTOH Dom Gregory Murray's tunes are 70 years from his death in 1992.
    Is this light, I think not.
    I doubt however that anybody would complain about copying for use.
    Thanked by 1shawnk
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    If you can find the hymnal on Google books or Archive.org or as a reprint, it's a good bet it's in the public domain. I have a PDF copy of the 1939 Westminster Hymnal, New and Revised that I downloaded from Archive.org.
    Thanked by 1shawnk
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    My version from 1966 (new and revised) has the publishers as "Burns and Oates Ltd" some of their books also add a Washbourne!

    N.B. Under U.K. copyright law if the publisher goes out of business the copyright reverts to the Crown. I should also note that the Crown does not know what copyrights it holds!
    Thanked by 1shawnk
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