Whatever Happened to the Literary James Bond in the 1970s?

Silhouette Man

Here is the author Ian McEwan on spies and the context of the early 1970s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntE-7Or2DqI

DEFIANT 74205

Silhouette Man wrote:

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

There is still tons of Gardner Material to use..

True, but I doubt Eon will ever officially adapt any of the continuation Bond novels sadly.

Admittedly, I've never read any continuation novels. As a Fleming purist, I would probably consider them to be poor imitations of the real thing, and not 'cannon'. So in a way, I'm glad that they aren't making films based on continuation novels.

I'll stipulate that perhaps I'm overly harsh and should at least give it a go before I criticise. Maybe one day, I'll do just that.

Thunderpussy wrote:

Agreed, I think EON bought the rights just to have control and stop anyone
trying to make another. Although as someone pointed out the copyright only
lasts for 75 years so who knows what legal battles are ahead in years to come.

In which jurisdiction does copyright last 75 years?

As far as I'm aware - and I could be wrong - in the UK and US, the duration of copyright is the same as it is in Australia - that is, in the case of cinematographic works, 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the film was first released. Or, if you're referring to the novels, 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.

Thunderpussy

This is just something I thought. After the death of an author, it had
Copyright protection for 75 years, now I'm not saying I'm right , it's
Just what I was lead to believe. I'm no Copyright lawyer )
Maybe it's 70 years. -{

Silhouette Man

I recently read an interesting article in The Times on literary copyright concerning the Conan-Doyle and rights to the Sherlock Holmes and it said that under British copyright law an author's work enters the public domain some 70 years after that author's death. That means the work is protected in the UK (as a signatory of the Berne Convention treaty) for the author's life plus a further 70 years after the date of death. That means that the literary copyright on the Fleming Bond novels and short stories will expire on 12 August 2034, still 20 years away and it may be even longer than this if the Continuation Bonds are taken into account...

Silhouette Man

Any further interest on what it was the happened to the literary James Bond in the 1970s? I'm all ears! -{

Silhouette Man

This is how I like to imagine the literary James Bond looked in the 1970s (courtesy of Laurence Harvey):

superado

Thanks for the pic, SM. You can easily envision the "real" James Bond in casual wear while being interviewed during the writing of The Authorized Biography of 007. I remember how John Pearson went on and on how unlike Bond was to his screen counterparts.

Silhouette Man wrote:

This is how I like to imagine the literary James Bond looked in the 1970s (courtesy of Laurence Harvey):

superado

Silhouette Man wrote:

I recently read an interesting article in The Times on literary copyright concerning the Conan-Doyle and rights to the Sherlock Holmes and it said that under British copyright law an author's work enters the public domain some 70 years after that author's death. That means the work is protected in the UK (as a signatory of the Berne Convention treaty) for the author's life plus a further 70 years after the date of death. That means that the literary copyright on the Fleming Bond novels and short stories will expire on 12 August 2034, still 20 years away and it may be even longer than this if the Continuation Bonds are taken into account...

If I just read the same site as you did, it also says that the Fleming Estate judiciously took other legal remedies such as filing trade marks for "James Bond" and other names that appear in the books. I wonder if the same laws apply to films and if there's parity across borders; I also wonder how copyright and trademark laws affect EON's standing with the property?

Thunderpussy

Although I remember reading that, at one point, when Clive Cussler
Was writing Night Probe. He has a character who is obviously Bond,
But given a different name. That if he'd paid IFP, around £1000,000
They would have let him use the name " James Bond" !
Don't know if that's true or a myth. )

Barbel

I remember reading that some time ago- I think Cussler would also have had to give up the film rights, too.

Thunderpussy

{[] Interesting. I think it's funny, Old Clive has written some fantastic books
( my opinion) but every film made from them has been rubbish )
( Maybe not " Raise the Titanic" ) So by letting them have the film rights, that
May have actually helped him.