A few free finds on the Kobo store

[rollei]

Originally Posted by love2readca

Available in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan:
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell

And in 2009 Amazon had to remotely delete 1984 and Animal Farm from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/te...azon.html?_r=0

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by sqdancer

To the best of my knowledge, Orwell died in 1950 and his books are not public domain in the USA yet. Copyright regulations are different in different countries, which is why the University of Adelaide posts a copyright warning in their FAQs.

It is my understanding that in the United States any book copyrighted in 1923 or before is in the public domain and is, therefore, "safe." Most books copyrighted after 1923 are not in the public domain. However, copyright laws are very complex in the United States for books copyrighted after 1923 and that is where you get into a rule concerning works being copyrighted for (I think) 75 years after the death of the author (or maybe it's the copyright holder). Anyway, if you want to learn about the ins and outs of it, there are websites which have all of the details. If you have trouble going to sleep at night, reading through that information when you go to bed will definitely take care of that problem.

[peachiekene]

Originally Posted by rollei

And in 2009 Amazon had to remotely delete 1984 and Animal Farm from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/te...azon.html?_r=0

That was because those books are not in public domain in the US. The person selling them did not have the legal right to sell them in the US.
The OP mentioned they were available for free in countries where they are in public domain and thus should not be in danger of getting pulled from those libraries.

[GtrsRGr8]

Oh, I meant to mention that Animal Farm was published in 1945; Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949 (source: Wikipedia).

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

It is my understanding that in the United States any book copyrighted in 1923 or before is in the public domain and is, therefore, "safe." Most books copyrighted after 1923 are not in the public domain. However, copyright laws are very complex in the United States for books copyrighted after 1923 and that is where you get into a rule concerning works being copyrighted for (I think) 75 years after the death of the author (or maybe it's the copyright holder). Anyway, if you want to learn about the ins and outs of it, there are websites which have all of the details. If you have trouble going to sleep at night, reading through that information when you go to bed will definitely take care of that problem.

Actually, the public domain is any work copyrighted before January 1, 1923, and any work copyrighted after 1922 and before January 1, 1964 that did not have its copyright renewed or was originally published without a copyright notice, with the exception of works by foreign authors. Anything copyrighted between 1964 and 1977 has a copyright term of 95 years, and anything published after January 1, 1978 has a life+70 term, except works for hire, which basically have a 95 year copyright term. This is a summary of what Project Gutenberg uses to determine what is in the public domain.

A majority of work copyrighted between 1923 and 1963 did not have their copyright renewed and therefore are in the public domain in the US, but there is no definitive easily searchable database of copyright renewals, although the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database is pretty good. One problem is that there are issues with name changes and derivative works that can cause something that appears to be PD to actually be renewed. Popular authors who had their novels in print for most of the period between 1923 and 1963 usually renewed their novels, but their shorter work was often spottily renewed.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Actually, the public domain is any work copyrighted before January 1, 1923, and any work copyrighted after 1922 and before January 1, 1964 that did not have its copyright renewed or was originally published without a copyright notice, with the exception of works by foreign authors. Anything copyrighted between 1964 and 1977 has a copyright term of 95 years, and anything published after January 1, 1978 has a life+70 term, except works for hire, which basically have a 95 year copyright term. This is a summary of what Project Gutenberg uses to determine what is in the public domain.

A majority of work copyrighted between 1923 and 1963 did not have their copyright renewed and therefore are in the public domain in the US, but there is no definitive easily searchable database of copyright renewals, although the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database is pretty good. One problem is that there are issues with name changes and derivative works that can cause something that appears to be PD to actually be renewed. Popular authors who had their novels in print for most of the period between 1923 and 1963 usually renewed their novels, but their shorter work was often spottily renewed.

Thanks for the additional, and corrected, information.