Death of the author registration#

Although limitations on the term of copyright are obviously necessary, too short a term harms the author without giving any substantial benefit to the public. A short term is particularly discriminatory against serious works of music, literature, and art, whose value may not be recognized until after many years.ģ. The tremendous growth in communications media has substantially lengthened the commercial life of a great many works. Life expectancy has increased substantially, and more and more authors are seeing their works fall into the public domain during their lifetimes, forcing later works to compete with their own early works in which copyright has expired.Ģ.

The present 56-year term is not long enough to insure an author and his dependents the fair economic benefits from his works.

The arguments for changing this system to one based on the life of the author can be summarized as follows:ġ. copyright law since the first statute in 1790. The principal elements of this system-a definite number of years, computed from either publication or registration, with a renewal feature-have been a part of the U.S.

Death of the author registration#

Under the present law statutory copyright protection begins on the date of publication (or on the date of registration in unpublished form) and continues for 28 years from that date it may be renewed for a second 28 years, making a total potential term of 56 years in all cases. The Register of Copyrights now regards a life-plus-50 term as the foundation of the entire bill. In particular, the authors and their representatives stressed that the adoption of a life-plus-50 term was by far their most important legislative goal in copyright law revision. With certain exceptions, there appears to be strong support for the principle, as embodied in the bill, of a copyright term consisting of the life of the author and 50 years after his death. The debate over how long a copyright should last is as old as the oldest copyright statute and will doubtless continue as long as there is a copyright law. Any person having an interest in the copyright in an anonymous or pseudonymous work may at any time record, in records to be maintained by the Copyright Office for that purpose, a statement identifying one or more authors of the work the statement shall also identify the person filing it, the nature of that person’s interest, the source of the information recorded, and the particular work affected, and shall comply in form and content with requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation. If, before the end of such term, the identity of one or more of the authors of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is revealed in the records of a registration made for that work under subsections (a) or (d) of section 408, or in the records provided by this subsection, the copyright in the work endures for the term specified by subsection (a) or (b), based on the life of the author or authors whose identity has been revealed. In the case of an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication, or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first.