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Charlie Chan novels

I found the six Charlie Chan novels online at Project Gutenberg. How is it that they were there in the first place, when Charlie Chan himself is not public domain.

Re: Charlie Chan novels

Anthony, I often wondered that myself. However, you peaked my interest and looking at their website they go by Australian law (vs U.S.), that being works by authors who died prior to 1955 are Aussie public domain.

Note, in the header there is a disclaimer about downloading or copying and using in your particular country (check local laws). I imagine if you tried to say copy & post it on your own site, or otherwise use it, you could be found liable for copyright infringement.

I noticed too, that these are recently updated. When I visited them long ago, at least one of the novels was an "Abridged" edition and actually incomplete. So that at least is a good thing. Hope that helps. Lou

Re: Charlie Chan novels

Dear Lou,

Thank you. Yes, you are correct on both counts, and the stories are "abridged" a bit. Ant to anyone wishing to obtain the full stories, the full, authorized Biggers Chan novels are available in many different editions throughout the internet.

Sincerely,
Rush