Home | Contact
Us | About Us | XXX DVDs | Music
CDs | Talk | Register | Auctions /
RSS
| FeedBack | Shop | Trailers/Coming | Shipping | Instant VOD Access |
For Sale | Sell | Jobs | Blog
PDF Version |
Copyright Term and the Public
Domain in the
United
States
|
||
Never Published, Never Registered Works2 |
||
Type of Work |
Copyright Term |
What was in the public domain in the U.S. as of 1 January 20143 |
Unpublished works |
Life of the author + 70 years |
Works from authors who died before 1944 |
Unpublished anonymous and pseudonymous works, and works made for hire (corporate authorship) |
120 years from date of creation |
Works created before 1894 |
Unpublished works when the death date of the author is not known4 |
120 years from date of creation5 |
Works created before 18945 |
Works Registered or First Published in the U.S. |
||
Date of Publication6 |
Conditions7 |
Copyright Term3 |
Before 1923 |
None |
None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration |
1923 through 1977 |
Published without a copyright notice |
None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
1978 to 1 March 1989 |
Published without notice, and without subsequent registration within 5 years |
None. In the public domain due to failure to comply with required formalities |
1978 to 1 March 1989 |
Published without notice, but with subsequent registration within 5 years |
70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
1923 through 1963 |
Published with notice but copyright was not renewed8 |
None. In the public domain due to copyright expiration |
1923 through 1963 |
Published with notice and the copyright was renewed8 |
95 years after publication date |
1964 through 1977 |
Published with notice |
95 years after publication date |
1978 to 1 March 1989 |
Created after 1977 and published with notice |
70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
1978 to 1 March 1989 |
Created before 1978 and first published with notice in the specified period |
The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047 |
From 1 March 1989 through 2002 |
Created after 1977 |
70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
From 1 March 1989 through 2002 |
Created before 1978 and first published in this period |
The greater of the term specified in the previous entry or 31 December 2047 |
After 2002 | None | 70 years after the death of author. If a work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first |
Anytime |
Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties. 21 |
None. In the public domain in the United States (17 U.S.C. § 105) |
Works First
Published Outside the
U.S.
by Foreign Nationals
or
U.S.
Citizens |
||
Date of Publication |
Conditions |
Copyright Term in the United States |
Before 1923 |
None |
In the public domain (But see first special case below) |
Works Published Abroad Before 197810 |
||
1923 through 1977 |
Published without compliance with US formalities, and in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) 20 |
In the public domain |
1923 through 1977 |
Published in compliance with all
US
formalities |
95 years after publication date |
1923 through 1977 |
Solely published abroad, without compliance with US formalities or republication in the US, and not in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) |
95 years after publication date |
1923 through 1977 |
Published in the US less than 30 days after publication abroad |
Use the US publication chart to determine duration |
1923 through 1977 |
Published in the US more than 30 days after publication abroad, without compliance with US formalities, and not in the public domain in its home country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) |
95 years after publication date |
Works Published Abroad After 1 January 1978 |
||
1 January 1978 - 1 March 1989 |
Published without copyright notice, and in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases)20 |
In the public domain |
1 January 1978 - 1 March 1989 |
Published without copyright notice in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention and is not in the public domain in its source country as of 1 January 1996 (but see special cases) 20 | 70 years after the death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication |
1 January 1978 - 1 March 1989 | Published with copyright notice by a non-US citizen in a country that was party to the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) | 70 years after the death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication |
After 1 March 1989 |
Published in a country that is a signatory to the Berne Convention |
70 years after the death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, 95 years from publication |
After 1 March 1989 |
Published in a country with which the United States does not have copyright relations under a treaty |
In the public domain |
Special Cases |
||
1 July 1909 through 1978 |
In Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands ONLY. Published in a language other than English, and without subsequent republication with a copyright notice12 |
Treat as an unpublished work until such date as first US-compliant publication occurred |
Prior to 27 May 1973 |
Published by a national of Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan in either country19 |
In the public domain |
After 26 May 1973 |
Published by a national of Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan in either country19 |
May be protected under the UCC |
Anytime |
Created by a resident of Afghanistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, or San Marino, and published in one of these countries13 |
Not protected by US copyright law until they become party to bilateral orinternational copyright agreements |
Anytime | Works whose copyright was once owned or administered by the Alien Property Custodian, and whose copyright, if restored, would as of January 1, 1996, be owned by a government14 | Not protected by US copyright law |
Anytime |
If published in one of the following
countries, the 1 January 1996 date given above is replaced by the date of the
country's membership in the Berne Convention or the World Trade Organization,
whichever is
earlier: |
|
Sound Recordings(Note: The following information applies only to the sound recording itself, and not to any copyrights in underlying compositions or texts.) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of Fixation/Publication |
Conditions |
What was in the public domain in
the
U.S.
as
of
1 January
2014
15 Feb. 1972
to 1978 Not in the public domain in its home
country as of
1 Jan.
1996. At least
one author of the work was not a
US
citizen or was living abroad, and there
was no
US
publication within 30 days
of the foreign publication
(but see special cases) 95 years from date of
publication. 2068 at the earliest 1978 to
1 March 1989 Not in the public domain in its home
country as of
1 Jan.
1996. At least
one author of the work was not a
US
citizen or was living abroad, and there
was no
US
publication within 30 days
of the foreign publication
(but see special cases) 70 years after death of author, or if
work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95 years from publication, or 120
years from creation After
1 March 1989 None 70 years after death of author, or if
work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95 years from publication, or 120
years from creation Fixed at any time Created by a resident of
Afghanistan,
Eritrea,
Ethiopia,
Iran,
Iraq, or
San Marino, and published in one of these
countries13 Not protected by US copyright law
because they are not party to international copyright agreements If fixed or solely published in one of
the following countries, the 1 January 1996 date given above is replaced by the
date of the country's membership in the Berne Convention or the World Trade
Organization, whichever is earlier: Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia,
Bhutan, Cambodia, Comoros, Jersey, Jordan, Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Micronesia, Montenegro, Nepal, Oman, Papua New Guinea,
Qatar, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tonga,
United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen
(Note:
Architectural plans and drawings may also be protected as textual/graphics
works) Date of
Design Date of
Construction Copyright
Status Prior to
1 Dec. 1990 Not constructed by
31 Dec. 2002 Protected only as plans or
drawings Prior to
1 Dec. 1990 Constructed by
1 Dec. 1990 Protected only as plans or
drawings Prior to
1 Dec. 1990 Constructed between
30 Nov. 1990
and
31 Dec. 2002 Building is protected for 70 years
after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95
years from publication, or 120 years from creation17 From
1 Dec. 1990 Immaterial Building is protected for 70 years
after death of author, or if work of corporate authorship, the shorter of 95
years from publication, or 120 years from creation17
1.
This chart was first published in Peter B.
Hirtle, "Recent Changes To The Copyright Law: Copyright Term Extension," Archival
Outlook, January/February 1999. This version is current as of
1 January 2014
. The most recent version is found at
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm. For some explanation on how to use
the chart and complications hidden in it, see Peter B. Hirtle, "When is 1923 Going to Arrive
and Other Complications of the U.S. Public Domain," Searcher (Sept 2012).
2.
Treat unpublished works registered for
copyright prior to 1978 as if they had been published in the
US
(though note that the only formality that applied was
the requirement to renew copyright after 28 years). Unpublished works registered for copyright
since 1978 can be considered as if they were an "Unpublished, Unregistered Work."
3.
All terms of copyright run through the end
of the calendar year in which they would otherwise expire, so a work enters the public domain
on the first of the year following the expiration of its copyright term. For example, a
book published on
15 March
1923
will enter the public domain
on
1 January 2019, not
16 March 2018
(1923+95=2018).
4.
Unpublished works when the death date of
the author is not known may still be copyrighted after 120 years, but certification from the
Copyright Office that it has no record to indicate whether the person is living or died less
than 70 years before is a complete defense to any action for infringement. See 17 U.S.C.
§ 302(e).
5.
Presumption as to the author's death
requires a certified report from the Copyright Office that its records disclose nothing to
indicate that the author of the work is living or died less than seventy years
before.
6.
"Publication" was not explicitly defined in
the Copyright Law before 1976, but the 1909 Act indirectly indicated that publication was when
copies of the first authorized edition were placed on sale, sold, or publicly distributed by
the proprietor of the copyright or under his authority.
7.
Not all published works are
copyrighted. Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as
part of that person's official duties receive no copyright protection in the
US. For much of the twentieth century, certain
formalities had to be followed to secure copyright protection. For example, some books
had to be printed in the
United
States
to receive copyright
protection, and failure to deposit copies of works with the Register of Copyright could result
in the loss of copyright. The requirements that copies include a formal notice of
copyright and that the copyright be renewed after twenty eight years were the most common
conditions, and are specified in the chart.
8.
A 1961 Copyright Office study found that
fewer than 15% of all registered copyrights were renewed. For books, the figure was even lower:
7%. See Barbara Ringer, "Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright" (1960), reprinted in Library
of Congress Copyright Office. Copyright law revision: Studies prepared for the Subcommittee
on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate,
Eighty-sixth Congress, first [-second] session. (Washington:
U. S.
Govt. Print. Off, 1961), p. 220. A good guide to
investigating the copyright and renewal status of published work is Samuel Demas and Jennie L.
Brogdon, "Determining Copyright Status for Preservation and Access: Defining Reasonable
Effort," Library Resources and Technical Services 41:4 (October, 1997): 323-334.
See also Library of Congress Copyright Office, How to investigate the copyright status of a
work. Circular 22. [Washington,
D.C.: Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 2004].
The Online Books Page FAQ, especially "How Can I Tell Whether a Book Can Go Online?" and "How
Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed?", is also very helpful.
9.
The following section on foreign
publications draws extensively on Stephen Fishman, The Public Domain: How to Find
Copyright-free Writings, Music, Art & More. (
Berkeley
: Nolo.com, 2012). It applies to works first
published abroad and not subsequently published in the
US
within 30 days of the original foreign
publication. Works that were simultaneously published abroad and in the
US
are treated as if they are American
publications.
10.
Foreign works published after 1923 are likely to be
still under copyright in the
US
because of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA)
modifying the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The URAA restored copyright
in foreign works that as of
1
January 1996
had fallen into the
public domain in the
US
because of a failure to comply with US
formalities. One of the authors of the work had to be a non-US citizen or resident, the
work could not have been published in the
US
within 30 days after its publication abroad, and the
work needed to still be in copyright in the country of publication. Such works have a
copyright term equivalent to that of an American work that had followed all of the
formalities. For more information, see Library of Congress Copyright Office, Highlights
of Copyright Amendments Contained in the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA). Circular 38b.
[Washington,
D.C.: Library of Congress, Copyright Office,
2004].
11.
US formalities include the requirement that a formal
notice of copyright be included in the work; registration, renewal, and deposit of copies in
the Copyright Office; and the manufacture of the work in the
US.
12.
The differing dates is a product of the question of
controversial Twin Books v. Walt Disney Co. decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in
1996. The question at issue is the copyright status of a work only published in a foreign
language outside of the
United
States
and without a copyright
notice. It had long been assumed that failure to comply with US formalities placed
these works in the public domain in the US and, as such, were subject to copyright restoration
under URAA (see note 10). The court in Twin Books, however, concluded
"publication without a copyright notice in a foreign country did not put the work in the public
domain in the
United
States." According to the
court, these foreign publications were in effect "unpublished" in the
US, and hence have the same copyright term as unpublished
works. The decision has been harshly criticized in Nimmer on Copyright, the
leading treatise on copyright, as being incompatible with previous decisions and the intent of
Congress when it restored foreign copyrights. The Copyright Office as well ignores the
Twin Books decision in its circular on restored copyrights. Nevertheless, the
decision is currently applicable in all of the 9th Judicial Circuit (Alaska,
Arizona,
California,
Hawaii,
Idaho,
Montana,
Nevada,
Oregon, Washington, and
Guam
and the
Northern Mariana Islands), and it may apply in the rest of the
country.
13.
See Library of Congress Copyright Office, International
Copyright Relations of the United States. Circular 38a. [Washington,
D.C.
: Library of Congress, Copyright Office,
2011].
14.
See 63 Fed. Reg.19,287 (1998), Library of Congress
Copyright Office, Copyright Restoration of Works in Accordance With the Uruguay Round
Agreements Act; List Identifying Copyrights Restored Under the Uruguay Round Agreements
Act for Which Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights Were Filed in the Copyright
Office.
15.
Copyright notice requirements for sound recordings are
spelled out in the Copyright Office's Circular 3, "Copyright Notice," available at
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.pdf. Here is the exact text:
The copyright notice for phonorecords
embodying a sound recording is different from that for other works. Sound recordings are
defined as "works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken or other sounds,
but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work."
Copyright in a sound recording protects the particular series of sounds fixed in the recording
against unauthorized reproduction, revision, and distribution. This copyright is distinct from
copyright of the musical, literary, or dramatic work that may be recorded on the phonorecord.
Phonorecords may be records (such as LPs and 45s), audio tapes, cassettes, or disks. The notice
should contain the following three elements appearing together on the phonorecord:
1.
The symbol ; and
2.
The year of first publication of the sound
recording; and
3.
The name of the owner of copyright in the
sound recording, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known
alternative designation of the owner. If the producer of the sound recording is named on the
phonorecord label or container and if no other name appears in conjunction with the notice, the
producer's name shall be considered a part of the notice.
4.
Example: 2004 X.Y.Z. Records, Inc.
16.
Architectural works are defined as "the design of a
building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural
plans, or drawings. The work includes the overall form as well as the arrangement and
composition of spaces and elements in the design, but does not include individual standard
features." Architectural works were expressly included in copyright by Title VII of Pub. L.
101-650.
17.
What constitutes "publication" of a building is a very
interesting question. As the Copyright Office has noted, "A work is considered published when
underlying copies of the building design are distributed or made available public by sale or
other transfer of ownership, or by rental. Construction of a building does not itself
constitute publication registration, unless multiple copies are constructed." See its Circular
41, "Copyright Claims in Architectural Works," available at
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ41.pdf.
19.
Turkmenistan
and
Uzbekistan
may have inherited UCC obligations and protections from
the
USSR
, which joined the UCC on
27 May 1973
.See Peter B. Maggs, "Post-Soviet Law: The Case of
Intellectual Property Law," The Harriman Institute Forum 5, no. 3 (November 1991). They have
not as yet, however, filed a "Notification of Succession" with the UCC.See
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1814&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
for signatories to the two UCC treaties.
20.
If the source country's first adhered to either the
Berne Treaty or the WTO after
1
January 1996, then the relevant date
is the earliest date of membership. Date of membership is tracked at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_parties_to_international_copyright_agreements
21.
Contractors and grantees are not considered government
empoyees. Generaly they create works with copyright (though the government may own that
copyright). See CENDI Frequently asked Questions about Copyright: Issues Affecting the U.S.
Government . The public domain status of U.S. government works applies only in the
U.S.
© 2004-14 Peter B.
Hirtle. Last updated
3 January,
2014
. Use of this chart is governed
by the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Cornell Copyright Information Center
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu © 2014
- 2015 TheBlackEBay® A Dagrapp® Corporate Family Company All Rights
Reserved.
TheBlackEBay is not owned, operated, affiliated, sponsored, or
endorsed by ebay™ in any way. theblackebay.com does not
discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnicity,
nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected
status. User
Agreement | Privacy
Policy | Adverstise Here | Services
| Sell Your DVD | Other Payment
Option | DMCA | Public Domain Rights
| 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record Keeping
Requirements |