Copyright infringement is a big deal, but copyright can be one of those tricky determinations that leave you wondering whether you’re okay to use an article or other piece of content. The following are basic guidelines for dealing with copyright issues:
For any work published prior to 1978, and marked with the proper copyright (©) notice, copyright lasted for an initial term of 28 years, renewable in the 28th year for an additional 28 years
With the introduction of the 1976 Copyright Act, copyright could be renewed for an additional 47 years.
The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 added another 67 years to that renewal period.
If a work published prior to 1964 wasn’t formally renewed, it entered the public domain when the initial 28-year term expired.
In 1992, copyright renewal became automatic for any works published after 1963. Copyright owners after that period no longer had to apply for copyright renewal
When all these considerations are taken into account, if the copyright was renewed, the term of renewal was actually 75 years from the year of publication — expiring on December 31 of the 75th year following the initial publication — until the Sonny Bono act extended this to 95 years. This all means that if a work was published in 1922 or earlier, it is probably now in the public domain.
Works that were published between 1923 and 1963 have a 95-year term, provided the copyright was formally renewed in the 28th year.
Works published between 1964 and 1977 have a flat 95-year term.
Works by individual authors created (meaning they just had to be written, they don’t have to actually be published) after 1977 have a term of the author’s life + 70 years.
Works by corporate authors, which are usually billed as works made for hire, that were created after 1977 have a term of 95 years.
Determining when a work was first published can be a little tricky. If a copy is available with a copyright notice, the notice should contain the year of first publication. New editions, which are sometimes called
derivative works, meaning they have been derived from the original, often contain notices with the year of the publication of the derivative work and not the original year of publication; but if the date is prior to 1923, you can be confident that the work in question and all its predecessors are in the public domain. Anything published after 1923 is likely still under copyright protection, so you’ll have to be granted permission before using that work or part of the work.
