Jane Austen, zombies & copyright
31/08/2009

What do Jane Austen, zombies and copyright have to do with one other? Well, for starters, they are all dead, at least when it comes to Seth Grahame-Smith’s new mash-up book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Quirk Books, 2009), which is currently creating a buzz in literary circles.

The book combines Jane Austen’s classic 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice with elements of zombie horror fiction. It is a parody which has some critics praising the sheer brilliance of the plot and others lamenting the “cannibalisation” of Austen’s classic tome.

With their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks, the publishers of the book have billed it as “85% Austen’s original text and 15% brand-new blood and guts”.

But what of the copyright in Austen’s original work?

Well, fortunately, it’s only the zombies that are likely to rise from the dead and make gruesome spectacles of themselves. Although the position differs from country to country, in most jurisdictions copyright continues to subsist for only a few decades after the author’s death.

In South Africa, for example, the Copyright Act provides that the term of copyright in a literary work is the life of the author plus 50 years from the end of the year in which the author dies. Austen passed away in 1817. Her works are accordingly no longer protected by copyright and are therefore in the so-called “public domain”.

Fans of Austen’s romantic classics will be pleased (or perhaps horrified) to hear that she is given credit as a co-author of the new book. And with so many other classic novels in the public domain, who knows what we will see next? Rumour has it that Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters will be released soon, so if you have a taste for a bit of blood with your high tea, you are in for a treat.

Kelly Thompson
Partner
Adams & Adams kelly@adamsadams.co.za
28 August 2009