Copyright term
Copyright term is the length of time copyright subsists in a work before it passes into the public domain.
Length of copyright
Copyright subsists for a variety of lengths in different jurisdictions. The length of the term can depend on several factors, including the type of work (e.g., musical composition or novel), whether the work has been published or not, and whether the work was created by an individual or a corporation. In most of the world, the default length of copyright is the life of the author plus either 50 or 70 years. In the United States, the term for most existing works is a fixed number of years after the date of creation or publication. In most countries (for example, the United States[1] and the United Kingdom[2]) copyright expires at the end of the calendar year in question.
The length and requirements for copyright duration are subject to change by legislation, and since the early 20th century there have been a number of adjustments made in various countries, which can make determining the copyright duration in a given country difficult. For example, the United States used to require copyrights to be renewed after 28 years to stay in force, and formerly required a copyright notice upon first publication to gain coverage. In Italy and France, there were post-wartime extensions that could increase the term by approximately six years in Italy and up to about 14 in France. Many countries have extended the length of their copyright terms (sometimes retroactively). International treaties, like the Berne Convention, establish minimum terms for copyrights, but these only apply to the signatory countries, and individual countries may grant longer terms than those set out in a treaty.[3]
Charts
Several charts have been made to help decipher the various copyright terms in the United States, such as:
- Tom W. Bell's Trend of Maximum U.S. General Copyright Term (July 23, 2008)[4]
- Clorox (diskussion)'s Vectorization of Tom Bell's graph, depicted above, which shows expansion of U.S. copyright law (November 27, 2008)[5]
- Peter B. Hirtle's Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (2015)[6]
- Sunstein, Kann, Murphy & Timbers, LLP's Copyright Flowchart (2014)[7]
Reception and discussion
Discussions about the optimal length of the copyright term is significant part of public and scientific reception.[8]
In 2009, a paper by Rufus Pollock of University of Cambridge scientifically quantified the optimal copyright term length via an economical model with empirically-estimable parameters as duration of 15 years, significantly shorter than any currently existing copyright term.[8][9][10]
See also
- History of copyright law
- List of countries' copyright length
- Perpetual copyright
- Rule of the shorter term
- Copyright Term Extension Act
References
- ↑ 17 U.S.C. § 305
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