quote:
Originally posted by dmm:
Remember, Beowulf was written in Anglo-Saxon. Anything you read in a modern language had to be translated by somebody, who doubtless holds a copyright to his/her work. So you'd be stealing from the translator. But there are undoubtedly translations from so long ago that the copyright has expired, so those would be public domain.[/b]
Ok, now we are getting into an area that I am not familier with. Are translations copyrightable? Common sense tells me no. If so, how could you have a copyright at all? I write a book, someone translates it into German. If you can copyright a translation, they hold the copyright to the German Version. Then they translate it back to English. Now they hold another copyrighted translation, that just happens to be identical to my original.
Now, many translations have annotations, or additional original stuff added by the translator. Especially in a case like Beowulf, where historical context may need added. That portion is theirs for sure, but the part that is translated should still be the property of the original author, regardless of the language. Or in this case, the translated portion should be public domain, as is the original work.
Of course I'm not a lawyer, I just talk like one sometimes.
So I could be totally full of bunk on this point.
Geoschmo
[This message has been edited by geoschmo (edited 29 August 2001).]