U.S.A. Copyright Law - Library of Congress. Copyright Office (best sales books of all time txt) 📗
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consisting of the life of the last surviving author and 70 years after
such last surviving author's death.
(c) Anonymous Works, Pseudonymous Works, and Works Made for Hire. In the
case of an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire,
the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first
publication, or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation,
whichever expires first. If, before the end of such term, the identity
of one or more of the authors of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is
revealed in the records of a registration made for that work under
subsections (a) or (d) of section 408, or in the records provided by
this subsection, the copyright in the work endures for the term
specified by subsection (a) or (b), based on the life of the author or
authors whose identity has been revealed. Any person having an interest
in the copyright in an anonymous or pseudonymous work may at any time
record, in records to be maintained by the Copyright Office for that
purpose, a statement identifying one or more authors of the work; the
statement shall also identify the person filing it, the nature of that
person's interest, the source of the information recorded, and the
particular work affected, and shall comply in form and content with
requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by
regulation.
(d) Records Relating to Death of Authors. Any person having an interest
in a copyright may at any time record in the Copyright Office a
statement of the date of death of the author of the copyrighted work, or
a statement that the author is still living on a particular date. The
statement shall identify the person filing it, the nature of that
person's interest, and the source of the information recorded, and shall
comply in form and content with requirements that the Register of
Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation. The Register shall maintain
current records of information relating to the death of authors of
copyrighted works, based on such recorded statements and, to the extent
the Register considers practicable, on data contained in any of the
records of the Copyright Office or in other reference sources.
(e) Presumption as to Author's Death. After a period of 95 years from
the year of first publication of a work, or a period of 120 years from
the year of its creation, whichever expires first, any person who
obtains from the Copyright Office a certified report that the records
provided by subsection (d) disclose nothing to indicate that the author
of the work is living, or died less than 70 years before, is entitled to
the benefit of a presumption that the author has been dead for at least
70 years. Reliance in good faith upon this presumption shall be a
complete defense to any action for infringement under this title.
Section 303. Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or
copyrighted before January 1, 1978 [5]
(a) Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1978, but not
theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January
1, 1978, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case,
however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before
December 31, 2002; and, if the work is published on or before December
31, 2002, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31,
2047.
(b) The distribution before January 1, 1978, of a phonorecord shall not
for any purpose constitute a publication of the musical work embodied
therein.
Section 304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights [6]
(a) Copyrights in Their First Term on January 1, 1978.
(1)(A) Any copyright, in the first term of which is subsisting on
January 1, 1978, shall endure for 28 years from the date it was
originally secured.
(B) In the case of-
(i) any posthumous work or of any periodical, cyclopedic, or other
composite work upon which the copyright was originally secured by the
proprietor thereof, or
(ii) any work copyrighted by a corporate body (otherwise than as
assignee or licensee of the individual author) or by an employer for
whom such work is made for hire,
the proprietor of such copyright shall be entitled to a renewal and
extension of the copyright in such work for the further term of 67
years.
(C) In the case of any other copyrighted work, including a contribution
by an individual author to a periodical or to a cyclopedic or other
composite work-
(i) the author of such work, if the author is still living,
(ii) the widow, widower, or children of the author, if the author is not
living,
(iii) the author's executors, if such author, widow, widower, or
children are not living, or
(iv) the author's next of kin, in the absence of a will of the author,
shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such
work for a further term of 67 years.
(2)(A) At the expiration of the original term of copyright in a work
specified in paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, the copyright shall
endure for a renewed and extended further term of 67 years, which-
(i) if an application to register a claim to such further term has been
made to the Copyright Office within 1 year before the expiration of the
original term of copyright, and the claim is registered, shall vest,
upon the beginning of such further term, in the proprietor of the
copyright who is entitled to claim the renewal of copyright at the time
the application is made; or
(ii) if no such application is made or the claim pursuant to such
application is not registered, shall vest, upon the beginning of such
further term, in the person or entity that was the proprietor of the
copyright as of the last day of the original term of copyright.
(B) At the expiration of the original term of copyright in a work
specified in paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection, the copyright shall
endure for a renewed and extended further term of 67 years, which-
(i) if an application to register a claim to such further term has been
made to the Copyright Office within 1 year before the expiration of the
original term of copyright, and the claim is registered, shall vest,
upon the beginning of such further term, in any person who is entitled
under paragraph (1)(C) to the renewal and extension of the copyright at
the time the application is made; or
(ii) if no such application is made or the claim pursuant to such
application is not registered, shall vest, upon the beginning of such
further term, in any person entitled under paragraph (1)(C), as of the
last day of the original term of copyright, to the renewal and extension
of the copyright.
(3)(A) An application to register a claim to the renewed and extended
term of copyright in a work may be made to the Copyright Office-
(i) within 1 year before the expiration of the original term of
copyright by any person entitled under paragraph (1)(B) or (C) to such
further term of 67 years; and
(ii) at any time during the renewed and extended term by any person in
whom such further term vested, under paragraph (2)(A) or (B), or by any
successor or assign of such person, if the application is made in the
name of such person.
(B) Such an application is not a condition of the renewal and extension
of the copyright in a work for a further term of 67 years.
(4)(A) If an application to register a claim to the renewed and extended
term of copyright in a work is not made within 1 year before the
expiration of the original term of copyright in a work, or if the claim
pursuant to such application is not registered, then a derivative work
prepared under authority of a grant of a transfer or license of the
copyright that is made before the expiration of the original term of
copyright may continue to be used under the terms of the grant during
the renewed and extended term of copyright without infringing the
copyright, except that such use does not extend to the preparation
during such renewed and extended term of other derivative works based
upon the copyrighted work covered by such grant.
(B) If an application to register a claim to the renewed and extended
term of copyright in a work is made within 1 year before its expiration,
and the claim is registered, the certificate of such registration shall
constitute prima facie evidence as to the validity of the copyright
during its renewed and extended term and of the facts stated in the
certificate. The evidentiary weight to be accorded the certificates of a
registration of a renewed and extended term of copyright made after the
end of that 1-year period shall be within the discretion of the court.
(b) Copyrights in Their Renewal Term at the Time of the Effective Date
of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. [7] Any copyright still
in its renewal term at the time that the Sonny Bono Copyright Term
Extension Act becomes effective shall have a copyright term of 95 years
from the date copyright was originally secured. [8]
(c) Termination of Transfers and Licenses Covering Extended Renewal
Term. In the case of any copyright subsisting in either its first or
renewal term on January 1, 1978, other than a copyright in a work made
for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license
of the renewal copyright or any right under it, executed before January
1, 1978, by any of the persons designated by subsection (a)(1)(C) of
this section, otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under
the following conditions:
(1) In the case of a grant executed by a person or persons other than
the author, termination of the grant may be effected by the surviving
person or persons who executed it. In the case of a grant executed by
one or more of the authors of the work, termination of the grant may be
effected, to the extent of a particular author's share in the ownership
of the renewal copyright, by the author who executed it or, if such
author is dead, by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this
subsection, own and are entitled to exercise a total of more than one-
half of that author's termination interest.
(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned,
and may be exercised, as follows:
(A) the widow or widower owns the author's entire termination interest
unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author,
in which case the widow or widower owns one-half of the author's
interest;
(B) the author's surviving children, and the surviving children of any
dead child of the author, own the author's entire termination interest
unless there is a widow or widower, in which case the ownership of one-
half of the author's interest is divided among them;
(C) the rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in all
cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis according
to the number of such author's children represented; the share of the
children of a dead child in a termination interest can be exercised only
by the action of a majority of them.
(D) In the event that the author's widow or widower, children, and
grandchildren are not living, the author's executor, administrator,
personal representative, or trustee shall own the author's entire
termination interest.
(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period
of five years beginning at the end of fifty-six years from the date
copyright was originally secured, or beginning on January 1, 1978,
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