I've been enjoying a renewed interest in all things Lovecraft and I read of a forthcoming movie interpretation of FROM BEYOND. There was a suggestion that Lovecraft was in the public domain and I was sure this wasn't true. I'm right in saying all Lovecraft stories remain in copyright and not just the August Derleth et al collaborations?

On a side note, I'd love to augment my well thumbed Omnibus paperbacks with an elegant illustrated tome that was in keeping with the tone and majesty of the stories within. Is there a definitive weighty volume that anyone recommends?

Victor

Lovecraft died in 1937 so unless there's one of those renewal mixups that happened in pre-77 law then his work should still be under copyright. This would be a case by case determination for each story because he likely didn't own the copyright so several factors come into play.

The Library of America put out a Lovecraft volume which is weighty though not illustrated. (As big a Lovecraft fan as I've been since jr high I still think LOA would have done better to have an American Fantastic anthology.) There's a couple of annotated anthologies but from skimming them I don't think the annotations really add anything, unlike Penguin's wonderful MR James colletions.

I'm not a copyright lawyer, so bear in mind...

From what I understand, any pre-1923 Lovecraft story is public domain. It's also assumed that since the copyright his post 1923 works weren't renewed by his estate within the required time, they fell into the public domain also.

In many European countries, I believe that since they still go with copyright existing for seventy years past the authors death, all of Lovecraft's work hits PD at the beginning of 2008.

Damned if I know how it works in the United States, because like I said, I'm no lawyer and that Sonny Bono law complicated everything. Some things are and some things aren't... all depends on how aggro the lawyers are.

But at this point, I seriously doubt that there's anyone left from the Lovecraft estate to pursue copyright infringement.

Although it wouldn't surprise me if some media tentacle were to buy Arkham House and start getting all Mickey Mouse on their new intellectual property.

Personally, I'd love to see some of the stories by Lovecraft's friend Clark Ashton Smith get adapted to the screen...all we've got up to now is a camped-up Night Gallery episode (and, I suspect, the inspiration for John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS).

I've been trying to research the copyright issue myself, as I have plans on doing a Lovecraft adaptation next year. I have yet to get any hard confirmation, but it's been assumed that Lovecraft is P.D. Did Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna pay anyone for rights, I wonder? If anyone should have any information, it would be most appreciated.

The "intellectual properties" section lays out the history of the "are they or are they not PD?" problem.

Lovecraft on Wikipedia

I just participated in an exhibit in Switzerland of art and interactive fiction inspired by Lovecraft's ideas as sketched out in his Commonplace Book, this being the 70th anniversary of his death leaves his works fairly open now in Europe, the Commonplace Book fragments are in any case widely considered to be in the public domain, though just to be on the safe side the exhibition received permission from the French language publisher, among others.

The interactive fiction piece is that part I assembled for the exhibit, and I am also hosting them online here, so if you'd like to play games based on Lovecraft, check them out.

-- Peter