Public Domain Not So Public

Who owns Lolita? Not the girl, of course -- Humbert Humbert tried that and look where it got him. In 2012, who owns the book? Or at least the copyright in the book? And for that matter, who owns The End of Eternity, The Body Snatchers, Inherit the Wind, Tolkein's The Return of the King and C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew? Even, ironically, Why Johnny Can't Read? As recently as 1978, the answer would have been "You do. We all do."