Copyright

Answer:

In 1998, the U.S. Congress extended copyright protection by twenty years to new and existing copyrighted works. Therefore, the basic rule is that for works created AFTER January 1, 1978, copyright protection will endure for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years.

In the case of a joint work, the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death.

For anonymous and pseudonymous works and works made for hire, the term will be 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first.

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.

Note: This legislation does NOT restore copyright protection to any works that are in the public domain.

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

One effect of the legislation is that the public domain is "frozen" until at least 2019, with nothing moving into it (and that nothing has done so since 1997).

A helpful chart is "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (as of) 1 January 2008" at

http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm

For information on all the provisions of the 1998 law [P.L. 105-298], please see the text of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act at:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/s505.pdf

You may also want to check this "Information About the Catalog of Copyright Entries" site at the Online Books Page, which also links to online files of the CCE

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/cce/

and/or this page "Inside Google Book Search," which includes a link to a (very large) downloadable XML file of copyright renewals records:

http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2008/06/us-copyright-renewal-records-avai...

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