17 U.S.C. § 304 — Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights
submitted 50 years ago by Pub. L. 94-553 to r/title-17-COPYRIGHTS · 2,435 words · no verdicts yet
This law sets how long older U.S. copyrights last. It covers copyrights that were in their first term on January 1, 1978, and lets authors or their heirs renew and extend them. It also lets some renewal-term grants be ended and the rights returned to the author or family.
(a) Copyrights in their first term on January 1, 1978.—
(1) A copyright that was still in its first 28-year term on January 1, 1978, lasts a total of 28 years from when it was first secured.
- If the work was a posthumous work, a periodical, a "cyclopedic" or other composite work registered by its proprietor, or a work made for hire owned by a corporation or employer, that proprietor can renew and extend it for 67 more years.
- For any other copyrighted work — including a piece an individual author contributed to a periodical or composite work — the right to renew and extend it for 67 more years belongs, in order, to: the author if living; if not, the author's widow, widower, or children; if none of them, the author's executors; if none of them, the author's next of kin.
(2) When the original term ends:
- For works owned by a proprietor (posthumous, periodical, corporate, or work-for-hire works), the renewed 67-year term goes to whoever properly registered a renewal application with the Copyright Office within the year before the original term expired. If no one applied, or the application wasn't registered, the renewal goes automatically to whoever owned the copyright on the last day of the original term.
- For works owned by the author or family, the same rule applies: the renewal goes to whoever registered a timely renewal claim, or otherwise to whoever held the renewal right on the last day of the original term.
(3) A renewal application can be filed within the year before the original term ends, by anyone entitled to the further 67-year term, or at any time during the renewed term by the person the right vested in (or that person's successor). Filing the application is not required for the renewal and extension to happen.
(4) If no timely renewal application is filed, or a filed claim isn't registered: a derivative work made under a license or transfer granted before the original term ended can still be used under that license during the renewed term — but the license does not cover making new derivative works during the renewed term. If a timely application is filed and registered, the registration certificate is strong evidence that the copyright is valid during the renewed term and that the facts on the certificate are true; a certificate filed late gets whatever weight a court decides to give it.
(b) Copyrights in their renewal term when the Sonny Bono Act took effect.— Any copyright already in its renewal term when the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act became effective lasts a total of 95 years from when it was originally secured.
(c) Ending transfers and licenses that cover the extended renewal term.— This applies to copyrights (other than works made for hire) that were in their first or renewal term on January 1, 1978, where the author or family (not by will) had transferred or licensed the renewal rights before January 1, 1978. Those grants can be ended under these rules:
(1) If someone other than the author signed the grant, the same people who signed it can end it. If one or more authors signed it, ending the grant for a given author's share takes either that author, or, if the author has died, people owning more than half of that author's termination interest.
(2) When an author has died, that termination interest passes as follows: (A) the widow or widower gets all of it, unless there are surviving children or grandchildren, in which case the widow or widower gets half; (B) the surviving children (and children of any deceased child) get all of it, or half if there's a widow or widower, divided among them; (C) children's and grandchildren's shares are split per stirpes (by family branch), and a deceased child's share needs a majority of that child's own children to act; (D) if none of the above survive, the author's executor, administrator, or trustee gets the whole interest.
(3) The grant can be ended any time during a 5-year window starting 56 years after the copyright was first secured, or starting January 1, 1978, whichever is later.
(4) Ending the grant requires written advance notice served on the grantee (or their successor). If someone other than the author signed the original grant, everyone entitled to terminate under (1) must sign the notice. If authors signed it, each author's share of the notice must be signed by that author (or agent) or, if the author has died, by the required number of owners of that author's termination interest. (A) The notice must state the termination date, which must fall in the 5-year window from (3) (or, for subsection (d) terminations, the window in (d)(2)), and must be served between 2 and 10 years before that date. A copy must be recorded with the Copyright Office before the termination date to take effect. (B) The notice's form, content, and delivery must follow rules the Register of Copyrights writes.
(5) A grant can be ended even if some other agreement — including a promise to make a will or a future grant — says otherwise.
(6) When the grant ends, the rights return to whoever was entitled to end it: for a grant signed by someone other than the author, to everyone entitled under (1); for a grant signed by an author, to that author or, if dead, to the owners of that author's termination interest under (2) — including owners who didn't sign the notice. This reversion has limits: (A) a derivative work made under the grant before termination can still be used under the grant's terms, but no new derivative works may be made under it after termination; (B) the rights that will revert vest on the date the termination notice is served; (C) where an author's rights revert to more than one person, they vest in the shares set out in (2); a further grant of that author's share is valid only if signed by the same number and proportion of owners needed to terminate a grant under (2), and it then binds everyone whose share it covers, even non-signers — a deceased owner's rights pass to that person's legal representatives, legatees, or heirs; (D) a further grant of a terminated right is valid only if made after the termination's effective date, except that the original grantee (or successor) may make such an agreement with the author or other entitled persons after the termination notice has been served; (E) terminating a grant affects only rights arising under this title, not rights under other federal, state, or foreign law; (F) until termination happens, an existing grant that doesn't say otherwise stays in effect for the rest of the extended renewal term.
(d) Termination rights under subsection (c) that had already expired by the effective date of the Sonny Bono Act.— This covers copyrights (other than works made for hire) that were in their renewal term when the Sonny Bono Act took effect, whose (c) termination right had already expired without being used, where the author or family had transferred or licensed the renewal rights before January 1, 1978 (not by will). These can still be terminated:
(1) The same rules as (c)(1), (2), (4), (5), and (6) apply to terminating the last 20 years added by the Sonny Bono Act.
(2) Termination can happen any time during a 5-year window starting 75 years after the copyright was first secured.
Any copyright, the first term of which is subsisting on January 1, 1978, shall endure for 28 years from the date it was originally secured.
In the case of—
any posthumous work or of any periodical, cyclopedic, or other composite work upon which the copyright was originally secured by the proprietor thereof, or
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.
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—
the author of such work, if the author is still living,
the widow, widower, or children of the author, if the author is not living,
the author’s executors, if such author, widow, widower, or children are not living, or
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.
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—
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
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.
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—
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
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.
An application to register a claim to the renewed and extended term of copyright in a work may be made to the Copyright Office—
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned, and may be exercised, as follows:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, whichever is later.
The termination shall be effected by serving an advance notice in writing upon the grantee or the grantee’s successor in title. In the case of a grant executed by a person or persons other than the author, the notice shall be signed by all of those entitled to terminate the grant under clause (1) of this subsection, or by their duly authorized agents. In the case of a grant executed by one or more of the authors of the work, the notice as to any one author’s share shall be signed by that author or his or her duly authorized agent or, if that author is dead, by the number and proportion of the owners of his or her termination interest required under clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection, or by their duly authorized agents.
The notice shall state the effective date of the termination, which shall fall within the five-year period specified by clause (3) of this subsection, or, in the case of a termination under subsection (d), within the five-year period specified by subsection (d)(2), and the notice shall be served not less than two or more than ten years before that date. A copy of the notice shall be recorded in the Copyright Office before the effective date of termination, as a condition to its taking effect.
The notice shall comply, in form, content, and manner of service, with requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation.
Termination of the grant may be effected notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, including an agreement to make a will or to make any future grant.
In the case of a grant executed by a person or persons other than the author, all rights under this title that were covered by the terminated grant revert, upon the effective date of termination, to all of those entitled to terminate the grant under clause (1) of this subsection. In the case of a grant executed by one or more of the authors of the work, all of a particular author’s rights under this title that were covered by the terminated grant revert, upon the effective date of termination, to that author or, if that author is dead, to the persons owning his or her termination interest under clause (2) of this subsection, including those owners who did not join in signing the notice of termination under clause (4) of this subsection. In all cases the reversion of rights is subject to the following limitations:
A derivative work prepared under authority of the grant before its termination may continue to be utilized under the terms of the grant after its termination, but this privilege does not extend to the preparation after the termination of other derivative works based upon the copyrighted work covered by the terminated grant.
The future rights that will revert upon termination of the grant become vested on the date the notice of termination has been served as provided by clause (4) of this subsection.
Where the author’s rights revert to two or more persons under clause (2) of this subsection, they shall vest in those persons in the proportionate shares provided by that clause. In such a case, and subject to the provisions of subclause (D) of this clause, a further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of a particular author’s share with respect to any right covered by a terminated grant is valid only if it is signed by the same number and proportion of the owners, in whom the right has vested under this clause, as are required to terminate the grant under clause (2) of this subsection. Such further grant or agreement is effective with respect to all of the persons in whom the right it covers has vested under this subclause, including those who did not join in signing it. If any person dies after rights under a terminated grant have vested in him or her, that person’s legal representatives, legatees, or heirs at law represent him or her for purposes of this subclause.
A further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of any right covered by a terminated grant is valid only if it is made after the effective date of the termination. As an exception, however, an agreement for such a further grant may be made between the author or any of the persons provided by the first sentence of clause (6) of this subsection, or between the persons provided by subclause (C) of this clause, and the original grantee or such grantee’s successor in title, after the notice of termination has been served as provided by clause (4) of this subsection.
Termination of a grant under this subsection affects only those rights covered by the grant that arise under this title, and in no way affects rights arising under any other Federal, State, or foreign laws.
Unless and until termination is effected under this subsection, the grant, if it does not provide otherwise, continues in effect for the remainder of the extended renewal term.
In the case of any copyright other than a work made for hire, subsisting in its renewal term on the effective date of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act for which the termination right provided in subsection (c) has expired by such date, where the author or owner of the termination right has not previously exercised such termination right, 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 in subsection (a)(1)(C) of this section, other than by will, is subject to termination under the following conditions:
The conditions specified in subsections (c)(1), (2), (4), (5), and (6) of this section apply to terminations of the last 20 years of copyright term as provided by the amendments made by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period of 5 years beginning at the end of 75 years from the date copyright was originally secured.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2573; Pub. L. 102–307, title I, § 102(a), (d), June 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 264, 266; Pub. L. 105–80, § 12(a)(9), Nov. 13, 1997, 111 Stat. 1535; Pub. L. 105–298, title I, §§ 102(d)(1), 103, Oct. 27, 1998, 112 Stat. 2827, 2829; Pub. L. 107–273, div. C, title III, § 13210(10), Nov. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 1910.)
- 1976Enacted · Pub. L. 94-553 · 90 Stat. 2573
- 1992Amended · Pub. L. 102-307 · 106 Stat. 264, 266
- 1997Amended · Pub. L. 105-80 · 111 Stat. 1535
- 1998Amended · Pub. L. 105-298 · 112 Stat. 2827, 2829
- 2002Amended · Pub. L. 107-273 · 116 Stat. 1910
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 94-553 on 1976-10-19.
all 0 arguments · sorted by: best
no arguments yet — make the first case