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Copyright Law... — Part 2
(Back to Part 1...)
How long does copyright protection endure?
Determining the enforceability period of copyright in certain works can be a challenge. Shown below are general guidelines. A more definitive flow chart of expiration dates can be found at this article from the Cornell Copyright Center.
Works originally created on or after January 1, 1978 — A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death. In the case of "a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire," the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
Works originally created before January 1, 1978, but not published or registered by that date — These works have been brought under the statute automatically and are now given federal copyright protection. The duration of copyright in these works will generally be computed in the same way as for works created on or after January 1, 1978: the life-plus-70 or 95/120-year terms. The law provides that in no case will the term of copyright for works in this category expire before December 31, 2002, and for works published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright will not expire before December 31, 2047.
Works originally created and published or registered before January 1, 1978 — Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the date a work was published with a copyright notice or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for copyrights that were subsisting on January 1, 1978, or for pre-1978 copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). Public Law 105-298 further extended the renewal term of copyrights still subsisting on that date by an additional 20 years, providing for a renewal term of 67 years and a total term of protection of 95 years. Any work created or published before 1923 is in the public domain.
Advantages of Registration
- Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.
- If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
- If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
- Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies.
Who Can Claim Copyright?
The authors of a joint work are co-owners of the copyright in the work, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.
Copyright in each separate contribution to a periodical or other collective work is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a whole and vests initially with the author of the contribution.
In the case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is considered to be the author.
Section 101 of the copyright law defines a “work made for hire” as:
- a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or
- a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as:
Two General Principles
- Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. Transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not of itself convey any rights in the copyright.
- Minors may claim copyright, but state laws may regulate the business dealings involving copyrights owned by minors.
Moral Rights
The term “moral rights” is a translation of the French term “droit moral,” and refers not to “morals” in the sense of morality, but rather to the ability of authors to control the eventual fate of their works. In the United States, the term “moral rights” typically refers to the right of an author to prevent revision, alteration, or distortion of his or her work, regardless of who owns the work.
Article 6bis of the current Berne Convention treaty, which the United States joined in 1989, includes a moral rights clause that protects authors’ right to decide whether and when to publish works, claims of authorship after the work is published, and preservation of the works’ integrity.
The right to attribution — An author’s right to have his work identified as his own
The right of integrity — An author’s right to stop distortion or destruction of his work
(Continue to Part 3...)
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