Edition-level rights policy

1. The unit of review is an edition

A literary work may be old while a translation, introduction, annotation, illustration, cover, typography, recording, subtitle, or adaptation remains protected. Each component must be identified independently.

2. Jurisdiction is always visible

A provider’s “public domain in the USA” assessment is recorded as a United States basis. It is not silently expanded to Japan, China, Taiwan, or the rest of the world.

3. Catalog states

pd-source

At least one specific external edition has a reviewed free-source basis in a named jurisdiction. Link-only by default.

review

Some versions may be free, but edition-level evidence is not yet sufficient.

protected

Bibliographic metadata only. No full text, proxy, extraction, or reconstruction.

4. Local hosting gate

A local edition requires its own manifest: exact source, retrieval date, source checksum, contributors, rights basis, jurisdiction, notices, permitted transformations, reviewer, review date, local checksum, and full build lineage. The release build admits only paths named by the local-edition registry and rejects neighboring or undeclared files.

The complete flagship scope is all five story staves of A Christmas Carol: Project Gutenberg eBook #46 English story text, a complete locally generated Traditional Chinese preview, and Sohei Morita's 1929 Japanese translation from Aozora Bunko. The source wrapper, English front matter, and illustrations are excluded. These exact editions were reviewed for the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Taiwan only; no worldwide status is claimed.

Chapter 1 of A Little Princess remains as the smaller reference slice. Its approval does not extend to the rest of that book.

5. Audio and video

Narration, voice systems, performance, music, sound effects, cover art, subtitles, timing data, images, animation, and generated assets are separate inputs. “Generated” does not mean “rights-free.” Every asset must remain traceable.

6. Why The Little Prince is local-only

Its 1943 U.S. edition—written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and translated by Katherine Woods—was renewed on 31 March 1971 as R504624. The 95-year U.S. term runs through 2038. Other territories and translations can differ, so the public site ships zero words and zero original illustrations; readers may import lawfully obtained text into their own browser.

7. Default action under uncertainty

Link rather than mirror. Mark a lead as discovery rather than verified. Disable a disputed local asset first, investigate second, and preserve an audit trail of corrections.