Legal & copyright
Curtain English hosts classic English literature for language learners. This page explains how copyright applies to the books we offer and to our own work on the site.
Classic book texts
Many of the novels and stories in our library are in the public domain in Canada and in numerous other countries, meaning their copyright terms have expired and the underlying texts may be copied and shared freely under local law.
Public domain status is not the same everywhere. Copyright duration depends on the author's death date, publication date, and the laws of the country where you access the site. A work that is public domain in Canada may still be protected in another jurisdiction — and a work that recently entered the public domain in the United States may still be protected elsewhere.
If you access Curtain English from a country where a given text is still under copyright, viewing or downloading that text may not be permitted under your local law. You are responsible for complying with the copyright laws that apply to you.
Sources and Project Gutenberg
Some classic texts we host are prepared from publicly available digital editions, including Project Gutenberg distributions. We use those files as a source of the underlying novel text only when we believe that text is lawfully available in the jurisdictions we target.
We do not present Curtain English copies as Project Gutenberg eBooks. We strip Project Gutenberg branding, header/footer boilerplate, transcriber notes, and the Project Gutenberg license block from the reading text. The Project Gutenberg name and trademark are not used to market or identify our product.
Redistribution rules for Project Gutenberg's own trademarked packages are separate from the copyright status of the underlying literary work. If you need the official Project Gutenberg edition or license terms, obtain them from gutenberg.org.
What Curtain English owns
The Curtain English name, website, reading interface, page quizzes, translations, vocabulary lists, flashcard study features, and other materials we create are protected by copyright and belong to Curtain English or its licensors.
The footer notice “© Curtain English” refers to this site and our original content — not a claim of copyright over public-domain book texts themselves.
No legal advice
We believe our texts are lawfully offered for users in Canada and similar jurisdictions, but we do not guarantee public-domain status in every country. Nothing on this page is legal advice. If you are unsure whether you may use a text where you live, consult a qualified professional.
Copyright concerns
If you believe material on Curtain English infringes your copyright, please contact us with the work title, your relationship to the rights, and the country involved. We will review and respond as appropriate.