Copyright and Classic Fairy Tales

[JuliePgh]

Do Fairy Tales such as Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs have copyrights attached to them, or can anyone take the premise and spin their own parallel story? Thank you.

[wwwatcher]

Good question. Do you have a copy of them in front of you? Do they have authors? Most times if something is over fifty years old it moves to public domain. This, of course was with writings and art that was created some time ago (i.e. 100 years, the 1800's and earlier). For example Dickens' work is all in public domain. Quite likely these two fairy tales are as old as that or even older.

My guess is that they don't have an author listed (I'm reasonably sure they don't belong to Aesop or the Brother's Grimm) and they were created in the 1800's or earlier.

This may not apply to works in the 1900s as copyright laws have changed and can be willed to relatives.

Faye

[Stephanie]

Rule of thumb: use 1922 as the cut-off date. Anything published in the US prior to 1923 is considered to be in the public domain, the copyright deemed to have expired.

Here's a chart: www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm (http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm)

[Reece10]

Hi Stephanie,

This is an excellent source. Thanks for passing it on.

Reece

[Stephanie]

You're very welcome, Reece. :-)

Julie - have you ever read "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" by Eugene Trivizas? Just read the reviews and descriptions at Amazon--those alone will get you laughing out loud. It's just lovely, intelligent stuff with perfect accompanying artwork.

[JuliePgh]

Stephanie,

It looks cute. I'll have to get a copy or my kids. Thanks!