Re: PS documentation file, no sources, author died

["Giacomo A. Catenazzi" <cate@debian.org>]

Anthony W. Youngman wrote:
> In message <20090530071729.GH30552@matthew.ath.cx>, Matthew Johnson 
> <mjj29@debian.org> writes
> > On Sat May 30 00:21, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:
> > > I would really like to distribute the documentation file but the 
> > > upstream
> > > author died recently [6] and the chances are small that the sources can
> > > be found.  Is there any rule that applies to this case, I mean, when an
> > > author dies?
> >
> > Copyright (at least in some important jurisdiction) applies for life +
> > 70 years, so it still applies and would now be held by the author's
> > estate.
>
> Copyright in pretty much ALL jurisdictions (ie not including, iirc, 
> places like North Korea) lasts for a *minimum* of 50 calendar years 
> after creation.

*minimum* ? Not really. Copyrights disappear when there are no
copyright holders (failed bankrupts procedure and lack of heirs,
when public entities doesn't take the assets).

On some countries (like UK, IIRC) there are also "orphaned
works".

Anyway these cases doesn't make it GPL compatible.

ciao
	cate