U.S.A. Copyright Law by Library of Congress. Copyright Office (best romantic novels to read .txt) 📕

who did not work for hire, the copyright endures for a term

consisting of the life of the last surviving author and 70 years after

such last surviving author's death.

(c) Anonymous Works, Pseudonymous Works, and Works Made for Hire. 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. 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. 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.

(d) Records Relating to Death of Authors. Any person having an interest

in a copyright may at any time record in the Copyright Office a

statement of the date of death of the author of the copyrighted work, or

a statement that the author is still living on a particular date. The

statement shall identify the person filing it, the nature of that

person's interest, and the source of the information recorded, and shall

comply in form and content with requirements that the Register of

Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation. The Register shall maintain

current records of information relating to the death of authors of

copyrighted works, based on such recorded statements and, to the extent

the Register considers practicable, on data contained in any of the

records of the Copyright Office or in other reference sources.

(e) Presumption as to Author's Death. After a period of 95 years from

the year of first publication of a work, or a period of 120 years from

the year of its creation, whichever expires first, any person who

obtains from the Copyright Office a certified report that the records

provided by subsection (d) disclose nothing to indicate that the author

of the work is living, or died less than 70 years before, is entitled to

the benefit of a presumption that the author has been dead for at least

70 years. Reliance in good faith upon this presumption shall be a

complete defense to any action for infringement under this title.

Section 303. Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or

copyrighted before January 1, 1978 [5]

(a) Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1978, but not

theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January

1, 1978, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case,

however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before

December 31, 2002; and, if the work is published on or before December

31, 2002, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31,

2047.

(b) The distribution before January 1, 1978, of a phonorecord shall not

for any purpose constitute a publication of the musical work embodied

therein.

Section 304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights [6]

(a) Copyrights in Their First Term on January 1, 1978.

(1)(A) Any copyright, in the first term of which is subsisting on

January 1, 1978, shall endure for 28 years from the date it was

originally secured.

(B) In the case of-

(i) any posthumous work or of any periodical, cyclopedic, or other

composite work upon which the copyright was originally secured by the

proprietor thereof, or

(ii) any work copyrighted by a corporate body (otherwise than as

assignee or licensee of the individual author) or by an employer for

whom such work is made for hire,

the proprietor of such copyright shall be entitled to a renewal and

extension of the copyright in such work for the further term of 67

years.

(C) In the case of any other copyrighted work, including a contribution

by an individual author to a periodical or to a cyclopedic or other

composite work-

(i) the author of such work, if the author is still living,

(ii) the widow, widower, or children of the author, if the author is not

living,

(iii) the author's executors, if such author, widow, widower, or

children are not living, or

(iv) the author's next of kin, in the absence of a will of the author,

shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such

work for a further term of 67 years.

(2)(A) At the expiration of the original term of copyright in a work

specified in paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, the copyright shall

endure for a renewed and extended further term of 67 years, which-

(i) if an application to register a claim to such further term has been

made to the Copyright Office within 1 year before the expiration of the

original term of copyright, and the claim is registered, shall vest,

upon the beginning of such further term, in the proprietor of the

copyright who is entitled to claim the renewal of copyright at the time

the application is made; or

(ii) if no such application is made or the claim pursuant to such

application is not registered, shall vest, upon the beginning of such

further term, in the person or entity that was the proprietor of the

copyright as of the last day of the original term of copyright.

(B) At the expiration of the original term of copyright in a work

specified in paragraph (1)(C) of this subsection, the copyright shall

endure for a renewed and extended further term of 67 years, which-

(i) if an application to register a claim to such further term has been

made to the Copyright Office within 1 year before the expiration of the

original term of copyright, and the claim is registered, shall vest,

upon the beginning of such further term, in any person who is entitled

under paragraph (1)(C) to the renewal and extension of the copyright at

the time the application is made; or

(ii) if no such application is made or the claim pursuant to such

application is not registered, shall vest, upon the beginning of such

further term, in any person entitled under paragraph (1)(C), as of the

last day of the original term of copyright, to the renewal and extension

of the copyright.

(3)(A) An application to register a claim to the renewed and extended

term of copyright in a work may be made to the Copyright Office-

(i) within 1 year before the expiration of the original term of

copyright by any person entitled under paragraph (1)(B) or (C) to such

further term of 67 years; and

(ii) at any time during the renewed and extended term by any person in

whom such further term vested, under paragraph (2)(A) or (B), or by any

successor or assign of such person, if the application is made in the

name of such person.

(B) Such an application is not a condition of the renewal and extension

of the copyright in a work for a further term of 67 years.

(4)(A) If an application to register a claim to the renewed and extended

term of copyright in a work is not made within 1 year before the

expiration of the original term of copyright in a work, or if the claim

pursuant to such application is not registered, then a derivative work

prepared under authority of a grant of a transfer or license of the

copyright that is made before the expiration of the original term of

copyright may continue to be used under the terms of the grant during

the renewed and extended term of copyright without infringing the

copyright, except that such use does not extend to the preparation

during such renewed and extended term of other derivative works based

upon the copyrighted work covered by such grant.

(B) If an application to register a claim to the renewed and extended

term of copyright in a work is made within 1 year before its expiration,

and the claim is registered, the certificate of such registration shall

constitute prima facie evidence as to the validity of the copyright

during its renewed and extended term and of the facts stated in the

certificate. The evidentiary weight to be accorded the certificates of a

registration of a renewed and extended term of copyright made after the

end of that 1-year period shall be within the discretion of the court.

(b) Copyrights in Their Renewal Term at the Time of the Effective Date

of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. [7] Any copyright still

in its renewal term at the time that the Sonny Bono Copyright Term

Extension Act becomes effective shall have a copyright term of 95 years

from the date copyright was originally secured. [8]

(c) Termination of Transfers and Licenses Covering Extended Renewal

Term. In the case of any copyright subsisting in either its first or

renewal term on January 1, 1978, other than a copyright in a work made

for hire, the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license

of the renewal copyright or any right under it, executed before January

1, 1978, by any of the persons designated by subsection (a)(1)(C) of

this section, otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under

the following conditions:

(1) In the case of a grant executed by a person or persons other than

the author, termination of the grant may be effected by the surviving

person or persons who executed it. In the case of a grant executed by

one or more of the authors of the work, termination of the grant may be

effected, to the extent of a particular author's share in the ownership

of the renewal copyright, by the author who executed it or, if such

author is dead, by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this

subsection, own and are entitled to exercise a total of more than one-

half of that author's termination interest.

(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned,

and may be exercised, as follows:

(A) the widow or widower owns the author's entire termination interest

unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author,

in which case the widow or widower owns one-half of the author's

interest;

(B) the author's surviving children, and the surviving children of any

dead child of the author, own the author's entire termination interest

unless there is a widow or widower, in which case the ownership of one-

half of the author's interest is divided among them;

(C) the rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in all

cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis according

to the number of such author's children represented; the share of the

children of a dead child in a termination interest can be exercised only

by the action of a majority of them.

(D) In the event that the author's widow or widower, children, and

grandchildren are not living, the author's executor, administrator,

personal representative, or trustee shall own the author's entire

termination interest.

(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period

of five years beginning at the end of fifty-six years from the date

copyright was originally secured, or beginning on January 1, 1978,