Hi all
I am from Vietnam, I am proceeding to collaborate with Publishing House to translate Comentarii de Bello Gallico from Latin language. The Publishing House asked me that if I translate from Latin, it doesn’t need to buy the copy right or does? In principle, the author who is Caesar in this case has aldready died more than 2000 years ago, but I am not sure whether there is any law regulating this case. Please kindly help
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh
Caesar has no copyright but the editor of any latin text you might use may have. The edition at the perseus site by T. Rice Holmes from 1914 is not in copyright.
So the answer to your question depends on which edition you are planning to use.
If the text you use is in copyright it will probably be sufficient to acknowledge the source you used as you are not actually reproducing another person’s work as you are producing a text written in another language.
Thanks Seneca,
When you said “The edition at the perseus site by T. Rice Holmes from 1914 is not in copyright” that means that Edition has been published in the year 1914, right?
Is it right that all editions in Perseus do not need buying copyright?
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh
Yes it was published in 1914. I think all the texts at Perseus are not in copyright.
If you are only intending to publish your own translation I dont think it matters from a copyright point of view what text you use, although you should acknowledge which text you have used.
if you are intending to publish a text from perseus I suggest you contact them. This is the relevant page about their copyright. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/help/copyright
A translation ought really not to need much special actions from your side. You may want to mention in the preface what edition was (mainly) used during the process. But if you want to be on extra safe side, you could contact the copyright holders of the edition you use (that is still in copyright) and ask their permission to translate it. I have to emphasise, however, that I am no jurist.
Thanks all of you
Yes, I will only print my own translation, not the Latin original text in the book
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh
Dear all,
I have already asked Perseus to use their source for my translation, here is their reply:
[Dear Huynh,
Thanks for writing to Perseus.
The Latin text available in Perseus is released under a Creative Commons license, as noted under the text itself. It is in xml and does include markup — it is not a plan text file.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0002
Look for the link that says An XML version of this text…
There are many — probably quite a few — public domain Latin editions of this work as it remains a popular instructional text. The edition in Perseus is by no means the best. We chose editions based on whether they were in the public domain in most cases. Google books, Archive.org, and elsewhere may have other book scans, as well.
Best,
Lisa]
To be honest, I do not really understand the law terminology: Creative Common License. So, would you please explain to me the meaning of their reply. Especially, it seems that they did not reply directly to my question. My concern is whether I could use their source for my translation for free
Sincerely yours,
Huynh Trong Khanh