Test translation of a public domain test - who owns the copyright?

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• October 4, 2011 @ 1:19pmamyg says:

  This question came to me from one of our researchers: A psychological test that is in the public domain has been translated into Arabic. Who owns the Arabic copyright? The author who has written a paper about the reliability of the newly translated test wants to know how to acknowledge this in the published paper. I would greatly appreciate some advice.
• October 24, 2011 @ 12:48pmwilliamsonl says:

  Although it is a derivative of a public domain work, there is likely enough originality to make the translation eligible for copyright. The copyright in a derivative work covers only the additions, changes, or other new material appearing for the first time in the work. It does not extend to any preexisting material. That means the copyright in a derivative work based on public domain material does not restore the copyright of the public domain material. And it doesn’t prevent anyone else from using the same public domain work for another derivative work.

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