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The “Diary of a Young Girl” has been removed from online text library Wikisource after falling foul of US copyright law.
The site briefly hosted a digital copy of “Het Achterhuis”, the first version of the diary, which was compiled by Frank’s father Otto and published in the US in 1947.
It had been included in the database because the site’s owners believed the copyright expired on January 1, 2016, which would have marked more than 70 years since Frank’s death.
The book is in fact protected until 2042. In the US, for works published or registered before 1978, the maximum copyright duration is 95 years from the date of publication.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikisource as well as Wikipedia, voluntarily removed the digital copy.
In a statement, the organisation said it was “an unfortunate example of the overreach of the US’ current copyright law”.
Anne Frank; Copyright; Wikisource; Diary of a Young Girl; Otto Frank
