Is this translation in the Public Domain?

Hi all,

I am involved in the packaging of an Urdu translation of Qur'an for Zekr
<http://packages.debian.org/sid/zekr>.

This Urdu translation is made by Ahmed Rida Khan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Rida_Khan>

Although the author died in 1921, I am not sure if the translation is in
the Public Domain.
I would like to know if this translation is eligible for being merged to
free/non-free repositories of Debian.
Would you please kindly guide me in this issue?

Regards,
Mohammad


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Mohammad Derakhshani wrote:
> This Urdu translation is made by Ahmed Rida Khan.
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Rida_Khan>
>
> Although the author died in 1921, I am not sure if the translation is in
> the Public Domain.

Probably. First, the work was translated in 1910 [1] and India
apparently didn't have a Copyright Act until 1914 [2]. India
also didn't join the Berne Convention until April 1, 1928 [3].
Berne member states then will not recognize any copyright in
the work (art. 3(1) of Berne).

Even if copyright protection was available to the work when
it was created, the copyright would have expired 50 years
after the death of the author.

Arnoud
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanzul_Iman
[2] http://copyright.gov.in/
[3] http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ShowResults.jsp?lang=en&treaty_id=15

--
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
Arnoud blogt nu ook: http://blog.iusmentis.com/


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