Ebay Policy And Enforcement Of Copyrighted Material?

I was searching through ebay for a copy of Stanley Ashbrook's book "The United States Issue of 1869" today. I decided to broaden my search and search all of ebay for "Ashbrook". What I found is astonishing - three sellers listing Ashbrook's book, "The United States Ten Cent Stamp of 1855-1857 (copyright 1936)" as a new printing. Between the three sellers, they have several million ebay listings and more than 3 million transactions.


Is this book public domain, or are these sellers in violation of copyright laws? Ashbrook died in 1958. If my understanding of published works is correct, his copyright wouldn't end until 2028.

Am I wrong?

Does ebay care?

Brian

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-United-..._2634wt_1312

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-United-..._1846wt_1312

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-The-Uni..._1635wt_1065

Unless the copyright was renewed, the book is in the public domain.



http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyr...of-books.pdf

Not clear on US law, but under UK law, the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, copyright is for 70 years after the death of the artist or creator of the work. That would take copyright to 2028 in this case. The publication date is of no consequence.

Terry
Edited for typo. TC

PS: This of course is assuming copright retained by the author. If the author assigns copyright to someone else then that is more complex. TC.

According to these details, the book was reprinted on 09/07/2013 by Literary Licensing, LLC:

The United States Ten Cent Stamp of 1855-1857
by Stanley B. Ashbrook
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781258801595
Publisher: Literary Licensing, LLC
Publication date: 9/7/2013
Pages: 90
Product dimensions: 7.00 (w) x 10.00 (h) x 0.25 (d)