Copyright Laws

Copyright law moral rights are of European origin, historically Roman, and reflect an early appreciation of the fact that the work of an artist is inseparable from the artist's soul.  The work is an extension and representation of the person who created it, reflecting their inner spirit and vision, and projecting the artist's personality.

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A copyright gives the owner the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, display, or license his or her work.  The copyright owner also has the exclusive right to produce or license derivatives of his or her work.  A work must be original and in concrete "medium of expression" to be covered by copyright law. 

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Duration of Copyright

By the Copyright Act of 1976 and the subsequent Copyright Term Extension Act passed in 1998, the duration of copyright provides for the following terms: (1) works published before 1923 are in the public domain; (2) works published between 1923 and 1963 have an initial term of twenty-eight years and music must be renewed for an additional sixty-seven year term for a total of ninety-five years; (3) works published between 1964 and 1977 have an initial twenty-eight year term plus an automatic sixty-seven-year second term for a total of ninety-five years; (4) works published after 1977 have a term of the life of the author plus seventy years, or in the case of works with multiple authors, seventy years after the death of the last surviving author.

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