This is section 2.4 excerpted from the Copyright FAQ in this directory (file "Basics") written by Terry Carroll. I've extracted it because it's a very commonly asked question... ------------------------------------------ 2.4) How long does a copyright last? Does it need to be renewed? The law of copyright duration has undergone many twists and turns. There have been several major changes in copyright duration law that contribute to this complication: - the number of years used in calculating durations has changed, from either 28 or 56 to either 50, 75 or 100, depending on the type of work. - the basis for determining the endpoint of a copyright has changed; it used to be measured based on when the work was published, now it's based on when the work's author dies, or sometimes on when the work was created and/or when it was published. - There used to be multiple copyright terms, and if the copyright was not renewed at the end of the first term, it lapsed. Today, except as a minor hangover from the past, there is a single copyright term; renewal is not required. - Not all the provisions changed at the same time. For one thing, although the Copyright Act of 1976 did not go into effect until 1978, well before the draft of the new law was complete, it was likely that the new statute would extend duration of copyright. Congress apparently wanted to minimize the impact on authors who would otherwise lose the benefit of the extended duration, and through a series of several special purpose laws (Public Laws 87-668, 89-142, 90-141, 90-416, 91-147, 91-555, 92-170, 92-566 and 93-573, and section 304(b) of the 1976 Copyright Act), delayed the expiration of copyrights that would otherwise have occurred in the 1962 - 1978 interim. The net cumulative effect is as if the duration provisions had begun to take effect in 1962, 16 years earlier than the rest of the Act. For another thing, even when the concept of multiple "copyright terms" was discarded, for a long time, works that were still in their first term of copyright still needed to be renewed to avoid going into public domain. This requirement remained in place until it was finally removed in 1992 (by P.L. 102-307, 106 Stat. 264). So while the law at anyone time has always been pretty simple, the cumulative effect of the changes have made the deceptively simple question "how long does a copyright last?" quite complicated to answer. The following discussion is based on a current year of 1994. I've tried to indicate the basis for calculations here, so you can see which need to be recalculated year by year, and which are okay as is. Regardless of the scheme used to compute duration, under 17 U.S.C. 305, copyrights always expire on December 31 of the expiration year, so at the time of this writing (January 1993), December 31, 1993 is the most recent date on which any copyright has expired. With these concerns in mind, here's a short analysis of copyright duration. Generally, for works created in 1978 or later, a copyright lasts for fifty years beyond the life of the work's author, after which it lapses into public domain. 17 U.S.C. 302(a). If the work is prepared by two or more authors (a "joint work"), its copyright lasts for fifty years after the last surviving author dies. 17 U.S.C. 302(b). For anonymous and pseudonymous works, and for works made for hire, copyright exists for 100 years from the date of creation, or 75 years from the date of first publication, whichever comes first. 17 U.S.C. 302(c). No renewal is necessary or permitted. (The year 1978 in this paragraph is because January 1, 1978 is the date on which the Copyright Act of 1976 took effect.) For works to which the attribution right and integrity right apply (see section 2.1), these rights endure only for the lifetime of the author. 17 U.S.C. 106A(d). For works published in the years 1964 through 1977, copyright lasts for 75 years from date of publication. 17 U.S.C. 304(a). In the past, copyright lasted only for 28 years, unless a renewal was filed with the Copyright Office. Such a renewal obtained an additional 47 years of protection. Renewal was made optional in June 1992 by P.L. 102-307, 106 Stat. 264. (The year 1964 comes from the fact that renewal was made optional in 1992, and 1992 minus 28 (the length of the first copyright period) equals 1964.) For works published in the years 1904 through 1963, the copyright lasted for 28 years from date of publication; if the copyright was not renewed, it lapsed, and the work went into the public domain. Another 28 years of protection could be obtained by filing a renewal, for a total term of 56 years (1906 comes from the fact that the U.S. effectively switched to a 47-year second term in 1962, and 1962 minus 56 (the old maximum duration of two 28-year terms) equals 1906). If the copyright was not renewed after its initial 28-year term, the work lapsed into public domain. Generally, all copyrights secured in 1918 or earlier lapsed at the latest in 1993 and are now in public domain (1993 (last year) minus 75 equals 1918). Copyrights secured in the period 1919 through 1949 continue to exist only if they were renewed, and expire in the period 1994 through 2024. Finally, just to complicate things: if the work was created but not published prior to 1978, its copyright duration is calculated as if it had been created on January 1, 1978, and lasts as long as that calculation specifies, or through 2002, whichever is later. If the work is published in 2002 or earlier, then the copyright lasts as long as that calculation specifies, or through 2027, whichever is later 17 U.S.C. 303. Whew! And to think I went into copyright law instead of tax to avoid the math.