Here’s another copyright anomaly. Any IP attorneys care to chime in?
Sometime between 1860-ish and 1908, Samuel Chamberlain wrote his personal memoirs which he titled My Confession. As far as I can tell he never published it. The longhand manuscript passed through various hands until it was “discovered” in the 1950s and purchased by Time, inc. Time edited and published the book along with its original artwork, then sold the original (and historically significant) manuscript to the United States Military Academy. The Time published book is now out of print (and has been for 50 years). Texas A&M University Press published a revised copy with a new introduction in 1996.
Now here’s the question. Both of these carry a copyright. The Time edition says “Copyright 1956 Time Inc. […] No part of this book may be copied”.
Is that just wishful thinking on the part of Time’s lawyers, or is there some avenue by which they really own copyright to Chamberlain’s 100+ year old words?