The copyright for Anne Franke’s diary was due to expire in 2016. To prevent it from falling into public domain, in 2015 the Anne Frank foundation added her father Otto Frank as a co-author.

The Diary of a Young Girl

According to the copyright laws in the European Union, as a general rule, rights of authors end seventy years after their death. Hence, the copyright of the diary expired on 1 January 2016. In the Netherlands, for the original publication of 1947 (containing parts of both versions of Anne Frank’s writing), as well as a version published in 1986 (containing both versions completely), copyright initially would have expired not 50 years after the death of Anne Frank (1996), but 50 years after publication, as a result of a provision specific for posthumously published works (1997 and 2036, respectively).

When the copyright duration was extended to 70 years in 1995 – implementing the EU Copyright Term Directive – the special rule regard… Continue Reading (5 minute read)