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There is a German dissertation from the 1930s I am presently co-translating which was originally published by a German university publisher not long after it was submitted. The book went out of print for decades (only published in a single edition), the author passed on long ago, but it was subsequently republished by an Austrian outfit in 2009. The recent edition claims on the front cover that the new publisher holds copyright over any future translations of this work. Knowing a little about copyright laws, this claim by the publisher sounds somewhat dubious to me, a claim which would easily be challenged legally, especially given the circumstances. Has anyone encountered an analogous situation where a publisher can claim rights over any future translations of a work to which they weren't the original publisher? Also my understanding is that translations usually become the propriety of the translators. If anyone can shed some light on this, I would appreciate it. N