Copyright and the Diary of Anne Frank…

So it appears Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank and the man most responsible for getting his daughter’s diary to the public, will now be listed as the “co-author” of the book.

The reason?  So that the book retains its copyright status as Mr. Frank died in 1980 and European copyright for publications lasts for 70 years after an author’s death.  By having Mr. Frank listed as a co-author, The Diary of Anne Frank can retain its copyright status until 2050 versus ending this year (Anne Frank died in 1945).

Want to read a little more about this?  Check out the below link:

Thanks to Copyright Bullshit, Anne Frank’s Diary Now Has A Co-Author

There are many in the commentary sections who decry this move and, based on the headline to the article, the author of the piece, Rachel Vorona Cote for Jezebel.com, also decries the move.

As an author myself, I’m a little more on the side of those who want to retain the copyright.  Sure, Anne Frank passed away a very long time ago and with the death of Otto Frank in 1980, all immediate family from that original time are gone.  The beneficiaries of the continued copyright will be the Anne Frank Fonds, or the Anne Frank Foundation, which I understand contributes quite a bit of the profits made from selling the work to charity.

Having said that, I’m also aware that copyright laws can have a decidedly negative impact on society.  I’m referring to things outside of books, novels, and autobiographies.  Elon Musk has made his electronic technology schematics available for other car manufacturers to use, the idea being that a future with electric cars will come quicker if the technology is a shared one.

Regarding medicines, this too has become a sticky issue.  A company can create and copyright a medicine and are the sole company to release it.  What’s to stop them from charging crazy fees for their medicines?

But with books and, especially, novels, these are an author’s creations and their ownership by an author/authors does not prevent society from advancing.  If anything, it bothers me to see other authors using those creations to themselves make money off these well-recognized characters/stories.  My hope is always that someone, even if it is a distant relative of the original author, is compensated for the work, even if they themselves had little if nothing to do with it.

For my works, should they one day gain a large enough audience, I would want that for my daughters and, eventually, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  My novels are my legacy and I would hope that my offspring would benefit from these works.

Is that so wrong?