Prague - In just a few days, anybody would be free to publish books written by Czech author Karel Čapek (1890-1938) without having to have a permission of those who inherited the author's rights.
By 25 December 2008, seventy years will have passed since Čapek's death and, according to the Czech copyright law, Čapek will become a so-called "free author" by January 2009. As a consequence, copyrights to his books will have run out by this date.
"Some personal rights of the author remain protected, though. This means that his work cannot be used in a way that would decrease its value. For example, it will not be possible to use it in an advertisement for a product the author would probably not have agreed with," explained copyright law expert Marie Šebelová.
Neither the law allows to publish Čapek's work under someone else's name.
"Any of the author's relatives may claim these rights," said Viktor Košut from Dilia agency that controls the copyrights to Čapek's books.
The experts refused to specify the value of the copyrights, yet it is estimated it reaches tens of thousands of Czech crowns.
Member of the executive board of Čapkova strž foundation, Milan Haluška hopes that the publishers will use the opportunity to publish Čapek for free.
"His work will become more available. It would be easier to publish his books," Haluška said, adding that the foundation is mulling a plan to publish some of Čapek's books itself.
Co-written books remain copyrighted
Karel Čapek has already been a "free author" before the copyright law was modified in 2000. In 2000, copyrights were extended form 50 to 70 years from the author's death.
Not all books written by Karel Čapek will be available to be published, though. Those books that were co-written by Karel Čapek's brother Josef will continue to by copyrighted. For example, Ze života hmyzu (Insect Play) or Devatero pohádek (Nine Fairytales) will be copyrighted until 2016.
Karel Čapek is an internationaly renowned author of novels, short-stories and theatrical plays, most famous for his anti-totalitarian plays as well as R.U.R. play that introduced now a globally used word "robot".
