Professor Claims Ulysses is Public Domain

Staff -- Library Journal, 1/18/1999

A University of Tulsa, OK, professor is claiming that James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses was not properly copyrighted in the U.S. and therefore is fair game for any publisher wanting to reproduce it. "It is my contention that scholars and publishers may make liberal use of [Ulysses] without getting permission from the Joyce estate, which no longer has a property interest in the work," says Robert Spoo, a Joyce scholar who is earning his law degree. In a piece published in last December's Yale Law Journal, Spoo contends that the big U went public domain in the United States shortly after its 1922 publication in Paris because Joyce and Random House, the book's eventual U.S. publisher, failed to meet several criteria for proper U.S. copyright. There has been no response -- although there undoubtedly will be -- from the writer's estate, which is known for vehemently protecting his work from copyright infringements, but if you listen very carefully you can hear Joyce turning in his grave.