Copyright Basics 4
Termination of a Copyright Transfer
Under certain circumstances, the Copyright Act allows authors or their heirs to terminate an agree-
ment that transferred or licensed the author’s copyright to a third party after thirty-five years. To
terminate a grant, the author or the author’s heirs must serve an advance written “notice of termi-
nation” on the grantee or the grantee’s successor-in-interest and must record a copy of that notice
with the Copyright Office and pay the required ling fee.
A notice of termination must be recorded before the effective date of termination specified in the
notice. If a notice of termination is not recorded in a timely manner, the notice will be invalid, and
the author or the author’s heirs will not be able to terminate the agreement. For more information,
see chapter 2300, section 2310 of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices.
How Long Does Copyright Last?
In general, for works created on or after January 1, 1978, the term of copyright is the life of the
author plus seventy years after the author’s death. If the work is a joint work with multiple authors,
the term lasts for seventy years after the last surviving author’s death. For works made for hire and
anonymous or pseudonymous works, the duration of copyright is 95 years from publication or 120
years from creation, whichever is shorter.
For works created before January 1, 1978, that were not published or registered as of that date,
the term of copyright is generally the same as for works created on or after January 1, 1978. The law,
however, provides that in no case would the term have expired before December 31, 2002, and if the
work was published on or before that date, the term will not expire before December 31, 2047.
For works created before January 1, 1978, that were published or registered before that date, the
initial term of copyright was twenty-eight years from the date of publication with notice or from the
date of registration. At the end of the initial term, the copyright could be renewed for another sixty-
seven years for a total term of protection of up to ninety-five years. To extend copyright into the
renewal term, two registrations had to be made before the original term expired: one for the original
term and the other for the renewal term. This requirement was eliminated on June 26, 1992, and
renewal term registration is now optional.
For more information on the term of copyright protection, see Duration of Copyright (Circular 15A)
and Renewal of Copyright (Circular 6A).
How Can I Protect My Work?
Copyright exists automatically in an original work of authorship once it is fixed in a tangible
medium, but a copyright owner can take steps to enhance the protections of copyright, the most
important of which is registering the work. Although registering a work is not mandatory, for
U.S. works, registration (or refusal) is necessary to enforce the exclusive rights of copyright through
litigation.
Applying a copyright notice to a work has not been required since March 1, 1989, but may still
provide practical and legal benefits. Notice typically consists of the copyright symbol or the word
“Copyright,” the name of the copyright owner, and the year of first publication. Placing a copyright
notice on a work is not a substitute for registration.