Book publishers

[Kevin Handy]

Richard A. Cini wrote:
>             Does anyone know what happened to Hayden Books? I have a robot
> book that described a robot built with a KIM-1 and I want to scan it and
> post it to 6502.org. I did some Googling and I can't find any current
> references for them. Any idea if the imprint was acquired or did they just
> pass quietly.
>             
>   

Here's a link for US copyright laws as used by Project Gutenberg

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Copyright_How-To

Short version: If the book was published 1978 or later, it has at
least a 70 year copyright on it, possibly longer, so check it again
in 2049. And, it is likely that Congress would, again, retroactively
extend that if Micky Mouse, once again, nears the public domain.

Things published before 1923 in the US are now public domain.
After that, the rules get more and more complex. Foreign works
can be even more complex, depending on the country it was
published in, and the country you are in.

I don't think that the existence of the publishing house would
affect the copyright status of a book in any way. I doubt that
books would become public domain just because the publisher
went bust.