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The Librarian’s Copyright Companion
Unfortunately for users, a work that has fallen into the public domain will not necessarily stay there. In a recent case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Congress can reinstate copyright protection for materials that were previously in the public domain.[1]
The Bottom Line: Copyright, like the Gary White tune (made famous by Linda Ronstadt), lasts a long, long time. To help you see things more clearly, we offer this simplified chart[2] and a more detailed chart in Appendix P.
1.6. Section 302
Term of Copyright
| Works created in 1978 or later | |
| Personal author | Life of the author plus 70 years |
| Joint authors | Life plus 70 years after last surviving author’s death |
| Anonymous or corporate authors or works made for hire | 95 years after date of first publication, or 120 years after date of creation, whichever expires first |
| Published 1964–1977 | 95 years after date of first publication with © notice |
| Published 1923–1963 | 28 years after date of first publication with © notice, plus 67 years if renewed |
| Published before 1923 | In public domain |
| Created before 1978 and published 1978–2002 | Life plus 70 (or 95/120 term) or thru 2047, whichever is greater |
| Created before 1978 and not published before 2003. | Life plus 70 (or 95/120 term) |
- ↑ Golan v. Holder, 132 S. Ct. 873 (2012).
- ↑ Adapted from When Works Pass Into the Public Domain, by Professor Laura Gasaway, University of North Carolina School of Law, available at http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm. Adapted with permission from Prof. Gasaway.
