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hardy boys

Posted: Sat 16. Aug 2014, 02:32
by SweetPea
Can someone please tell me if the Hardy Boys series is public domain? It was written by a lot of people under the pen name of Franklin Dixon, and I can't find it on PGA.

Re: hardy boys

Posted: Sun 17. Aug 2014, 08:04
by Hokuspokus
That's difficult.

In general books by ghost-writers get 70 years protection from the year they where published. But the author can claim copyright later. You would have to check that for each author, which is almost impossible.
This is German law, chances are good that it's the same all over Europe. But the Hardy Boys are a US publication originally and clearly not pd there. I have no idea if that has any influence on the copyright here, but US copyright holders probably think so.

I wouldn't touch them.

Re: hardy boys

Posted: Mon 18. Aug 2014, 00:01
by SweetPea
Too bad.
I just did a bit of searching on Wikipedia, and I found that the ghostwriter Leslie McFarlane wrote the first book. He died in 1977. So not PD anyway :(
Thanks for you help.