Project:Why are some of Wittgenstein’s texts missing from this website?: Difference between revisions

Anne Frank was murdered in Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Her diary was expected to enter the public domain in Holland, as well as in other countries with a 70-years copyright term, on 1 January 2016. In 2015, however, representatives of the Anne Frank Fonds, the foundation that inherited the rights to the diary after the death of Anne Frank’s father, Otto, released an announcement claiming that, because the diary was co-authored by Otto Frank himself, the text would only enter the public domain after the expiration of the 70-years term after ''his'' death, which occurred in 1980.<ref>Dwyer, C. (31 December 2015). <span class="plainlinks">[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/31/461606275/mein-kampf-enters-public-domain-arguably-anne-franks-diary-may-too "'Mein Kampf' Enters Public Domain; Arguably, Anne Frank's Diary May, Too"]</span>. ''National Public Radio''. Retrieved 14 December 2021 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220730151930/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/31/461606275/mein-kampf-enters-public-domain-arguably-anne-franks-diary-may-too archived URL]}}); Carvajal, D. (13 November 2015). <span class="plainlinks">[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/books/anne-frank-has-a-co-as-diary-gains-co-author-in-legal-move.html "Anne Frank's Diary Gains 'Co-Author' in Copyright Move"]</span>. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 14 December 2021 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220518230607/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/books/anne-frank-has-a-co-as-diary-gains-co-author-in-legal-move.html archived URL]}}).</ref> Otto Frank indeed played a meaningful role in preparing the original 1947 edition of the diary by collating and editing his daughter’s original handwritten notes. The claim that he was a “co-author”, however, was never made before 2015, and when it was made it was regarded by many as a move to ensure the foundation’s income for another generation at the expense of humanity’s right to freely access one of the most important books documenting the horrors of its recent history.

The issue doesn’t seem to have been addressed by a court. The diary was removed from Wikisource in February 2016 by the Wikimedia Foundation for reasons unrelated to authorship, and rather connected to “the overreach of the United States’ current copyright law”.<ref>Rogers, J. (10 February 2016). <span class="plainlinks">[https://diff.wikimedia.org/2016/02/10/anne-frank-diary-removal/ "Wikimedia Foundation removes The Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law requirements"]</span>. ''Diff. News from across the Wikimedia movement''. Retrieved 14 December 2021 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220523105327/https://diff.wikimedia.org/2016/02/10/anne-frank-diary-removal/ archived URL]}}).</ref> In Europe, former member of French parliament Isabelle Attard published the original Dutch edition on her own website accompanied by an explicit and passionate statement rejecting the “privatisation of knowledge” and defending the public domain;<ref>Attard, I. <span class="plainlinks">[https://isabelleattard.fr/vive-anne-frank-vive-le-domaine-public/ "Vive Anne Frank, vive le Domaine Public"]</span>. ''Magazine ISABELLEATTARD''. Retrieved 14 December 2021 ({{plainlink|[https://web.archive.org/web/20220730151836/https://isabelleattard.fr/vive-anne-frank-vive-le-domaine-public/ archived URL]}}).</ref> the file was never taken down.