On 11/1/98, Pat Adkins <treasure.mountain[_at_]sstar.com> wrote:
>
> Any work unpublished as of January 1, 1978 is to be considered as
> created on that date--January 1, 1978.
No, it *subsists* from 1/1/78 (it is copyrighted from that date).
> If the author died in 1950, his unpublished works will not go into
> the public domain until 2020 (70 years after his death). If
> published by December 31, 2002, however, they will be protected
> through December 31, 2047.
Correct.
> If the works in question are works for hire, though, different
> rules apply. They would not go into the public domain until 2098
> (120 years after "creation") if left unpublished, or 95 years after
> they are first published--which would be 2093 if published this year.
No because you have creation wrong.
> A more concrete hypothetical. Sam Clemens (Mark Twain) died in 1910.
> If his descendants discovered a stash of his unpublished letters but
> did not publish them, the letters would go into the public domain
> December 31, 2002; if they were published in time, their maximum
> protection would be through December 31, 2047.
I believe this is correct.
> If, however, someone found an unpublished circa 1865 article Twain
> had written in his newspaper days (a work for hire), it would be
> protected until 2098 (1978+120) if unpublished, 2093 if published
> this year--just as in the example of the writer who died forty
> years later!
No -- same reason. The key date is 1865 (not 1978). Under the new law such a work, according to section 302, has lost its copyright because 120 years from its first creation was 1985. However, section 303 says that such a work's copyright can "in no case" expire before 12/31/2002. Last however though is that, IMO, the work was already in the public domain under the old law and therefore no longer subject to any kind of copyright (again according to section 303).
I'm not 100% sure I'm right about all of the above, but by 120 (with continuing increments of plus 20) years after my death I will definitely know.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Mon Mar 26 2007 - 00:35:33 GMT