united-states copyright international derivative-work succession
What is the copyright status, in the US, of the old USSR textbooks?
<p>The textbooks published in the USSR had their copyright listed as &quot;The Ministry of Education of the USSR.&quot;  I am not interested in the &quot;author rights.&quot; I am only interested in the copyright rights (a distinction that is probably more relevant to Germany than it is to the US anyway).</p>
<p>The UN view on successor states is that all states inheriting territory of a country become successor states unless (or until) such status is changed through bilateral agreements.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Soviet_states" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the Russian Federation is considered a de facto successor state</a> in most contexts, that's not good enough in legal contexts in which exact transfer of ownership needs to be established.</p>
<p>The link above states that Ukraine (by law) considers itself to be a successor state to the USSR.  Which would suggest that it has not abandoned its right to inherit intellectual property owned by the USSR.</p>
<p>Is there is a clear case precedent on how this would play out in a US court?  For example, let's say someone produces a derivative work (such as a translation) of an old Soviet textbook, but would only secure a permission to produce derivative works from the government of Ukraine.  Would they be able to publish and distribute the translation commercially? Or would they also need to get a permission from the government of the Russian Federation?</p>
<p>Again, I am asking if there is precedent on this topic, not what the prevailing opinions are.  Although, of course, if the legislation on the subject is clear and unambiguous, it would be useful to know that, too.</p>

<h2>It’s no different from the multiple heirs of a dead author</h2>
<p>Copyright is jointly owned. That is, each of the successor states of the USSR own the copyright together.</p>
<p>What joint authors may do with the work depends on the jurisdiction. For example, in the US, any joint author can do anything with the work so long as they account to the others for their share of the profits. In Australia, joint authors must agree unanimously to do anything with the work.</p>
