Duration of Copyright Protection

The duration of copyright protection depends upon when the work was created because over the years U.S. copyright law has been amended with regard to the term of copyright protection.

Works Created after January 1, 1978

Works created on or after January 1, 1978, are automatically protected from the moment of their creation and are given a term enduring for the author's life plus 70 years after the author's death. If the work was prepared by joint authors (who did not work for hire), the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire and for anonymous works (works on which an author is not identified) or pseudonymous works (works on which the author uses a fictitious name), ...

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