On Sun, 24 Jan 1999, Steve Smith <sb_smith[_at_]sprynet.com> wrote:
>
> With the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act signed into law, I
> am now unclear about what year copyrighted works enter the public
> domain.
>
> The Sonny Bono Act did not amend the following section of the
> Copyright Act's Duration of Copyright part:
>
> Sec. 304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights
> (http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/3-304.html)
>
> (b) Copyrights in Their Renewal Term or Registered for Renewal
> Before January 1, 1978
> The duration of any copyright, the renewal term of which is
> subsisting at any time between December 31, 1976, and December
> 31, 1977, inclusive, or for which renewal registration is
> made between December 31, 1976, and December 31, 1977,
> inclusive, is extended to endure for a term of seventy-five
> years from the date copyright was originally secured.
>
> Therefore, if a work was published in 1923, 75 years later it would
> be in the public domain, going by sec. 304(b). For example, the
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's revised When Works
> Pass into the Public Domain (http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm)
> uses 1923 as a cutoff point.
>
> Just recently, however, the Copyright Office released a brief pamphlet,
> New Terms for Copyright Protection (http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/),
> which offers a more simplified view of the Sonny Bono Act:
>
> For pre-1978 works still in their original or renewal term of
> copyright, the total term is extended to 95 years from the
> date that copyright was originally secured.
>
> I believe that sec. 304 (b) was overlooked by the authors of the
> Sonny Bono Act in their quest to extend copyright protection an
> extra 20 years. The 1923 date increasingly looks like a controversial
> loophole.
>
> Do any forum members have an answer to the question "in what year are
> copyrighted works assured to be in the public domain?" Any other
> advice on finding a public domain safe harbor would also be
> appreciated.
Both The Univ. of North Carolina and the Copyright Office are right. Any work published before 1923 is in the public domain. A pre-1978 work published before 1923 was not in its renewal term of copyright when the Sonny Bono Act took effect. Such words were already in the public domain and do not benefit from the 20-year extension.
Be aware, also, that many works published between 1923-1963 are also in the public domain because they were never renewed. You have to search the Copyright Office records to find out which ones.
Stephen Fishman
<sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com>
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