Mondo Knows Facts
American copyright now runs for life plus seventy years
Works published long ago can still be under protection after repeated extensions The term grew from 28 years with renewal to life plus fifty and then life plus seventy. Recordings were handled separately for decades, which left many pre-1972 tracks outside federal rules until later legislation. Once a term ends, the work enters the public domain. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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More facts like this
US copyright lasts 70 years after a songwriter diesWorks written from 1978 onward are protected for life plus seven decadesA cover version needs only a statutory licenceA compulsory licence dates from 1909, after player piano rolls escaped controlComposers organised a collecting society in 1914ASCAP gathered licence fees from venues and split them among membersMany old films have no identifiable ownerRights can be impossible to trace, which blocks any re-releaseAmerican film copyright now lasts 95 yearsTitles enter the public domain on a fixed schedule each JanuaryA 1991 court ruling changed sampling overnightGrand Upright against Warner made an uncleared loop straightforward infringement
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Tags: copyright, law, history
American copyright now runs for life plus seventy years: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Works published long ago can still be under protection after repeated extensions. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a music fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.