I'm about to register my own publishing concern.
Among other projects dear to my heart is the re-edition of a book that came out in the mid '70s. I own the only copy of the book that I've ever seen (and I bought it at a jumble sale back in the late '70s). It's #4 on my list of favourite children's books. And when you read that tied for 1st place are the 2 Alice books by Lewis Carroll, and #5 is Momo by Michael Ende (I'm keeping schtumm about #3, because I'm going to make a bid for the Spanish translation rights and I don't want THOSE snatched from under my nose), you'll know that the bar has been set pretty high.
I have tried surfing Internet to find the author. The book's title appears only SIX times on Google (once in a comment that I myself had made), the author's name only ten... and NONE of those pages help me to locate the author*. The publishers apparently disappeared in '81, and the Google results on THEM don't lead me to my author.
My question: If I print on the inside front cover of the book that I'd be thrilled and honoured to meet the author, and more than happy to hand over all royalties - which will be kept in a special account until that time... can I be done (for example, by unscrupulous shysters) for infringement of copyright?
(I fear that the author is dead. He'd have his own web-site nowadays if he were still alive. I'd be happy - admittedly not AS happy - to hand the royalties to anybody proving to be the legitimate heir(s).)
* A few of these results were from those awful automatically-generated web-sites. "Looking for Vrtwrqdeeithrlc Qczertsjdh? Find him on 'LostBuddies.com' "
I'm presuming that you have got all the information the copyright library holds. If you have a real name and not a nome de plume to go on, and the person is/was resident here, then you could always try looking through other records such as the electoral rolls, births and deaths etc. There are always those directories that allow you to look up contact details of folk. If it's a manageable list of maybe 9 to 10, then you could always try dropping them a line.
Still yes, I'm afraid... I can foresee a case where someone was hauled up and did everything you did, but the fact of the law is that copyright has been infringed, no matter that the 'new' publisher had the best of intentions. At the bottom of the WATCH suggestions is the best one, that would help protect you, I think:
"When all else has failed, publish a notice in appropriate newspapers or journals. The Times Literary Supplement is recommended for enquiries about literary authors, whilst a notice in The Times is a recognised last resort when one wishes to demonstrate that all possible avenues have been explored, and a "diligent search" has been conducted."
Thanks, Jeff, for your answer. I already knew that about the 50 years after death. News to me was the difference in the rest of Europe. And I've been following your tip on the SOA and WATCH... though I found the utexas site so complicated that I didn't get much joy there. I'm waiting for an answer from the SOA (of the country the book was published in).
HOWEVER that's not the answer that I was looking for (even if it does prove to solve my problem). What I was getting at was:
If I make it perfectly clear (for example on the inside front cover) that
a) I IN NO WAY am out to swindle the author,
b) that I have tried my best to locate the author,
c) that I would be thrilled and HONOURED to meet the author of such a wonderful book.
d) that I LOVE this book and my reason for re-editing it is NOT my own financial gain but that I think that it's a crying shame that it's no longer in print,
e) that I'm holding the author's royalties [on VERY generous terms] in a special account until I am ABLE to VERY willingly hand them over to the author or their estate...
If I AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION state all that, could I be SUCCESSFULLY done for infringement of copyright, or would any judge / jury realise that I'm actually trying to do the author [whether living or deceased] a favour?