Who Has the Rights to Old Books?

More continuing e-book drama! William Styron's family believes they own the rights to his books since they were first published before e-books existed. Random House, Styron's publisher, disagrees and intends to get some more cash off those e-books.

Is this being handled like a regular copyright? If a book goes out of print, does the owner of copyright change? Is Random House being legitimate here? My gut feeling says no.

And now, because I have an exam on Tuesday, here is a list of who can hold copyright:

• the creator
• the employer
• the commissioner
  
• someone else the rights have been transferred to

And here are some things that are not protected by copyright:

• slogans
• themes
• ideas
• names

In Canada, copyright generally expires after 50 years. The copyright offices are located in the Library of Congress.