Duration of Copyright Protection and Limitations on Copyright

may be bequeathed by will or be left as personal property under the law applicable to intestate succession [6].

Copyright may be assigned in whole or in part, so that the assignee or inheritor owns the assigned portion of the copyright independently of the other rights of the copyright. Article 201 provides: "The owner of any particular exclusive right shall enjoy within the scope of that right all the protection and remedies available to the owner of the copyright."

Fourth , the owner in the case of anthologies.

Pursuant to subparagraph (c) of Article 201, copyright in each individual work in a compilation is independent of copyright in the compilation as a whole, and vests primarily in the authors of the individual works. In the absence of an express transfer of copyright or any rights conferred by copyright in the compilation, the owner of copyright in the compilation acquires only the right to reproduce and distribute the individual works in the compilation as part of the compilation, any modifications to the compilation, and any subsequent compilations of the same kind.

Ownership of copyright, or any exclusive rights conferred by copyright, is independent of ownership of any material object in which the work is embodied. An assignment of ownership of any material object in which the work is first fixed, including copies or phonorecords in which the work is first fixed, does not of itself imply an assignment of any rights in the copyrighted work embodied in that object; nor, in the absence of agreement, does an assignment of ownership of copyright or any

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Any exclusive rights conferred by copyright do not imply a transfer of property rights in any material object embodying the work.

The Copyright Law also provides detailed procedures for terminating the assignment and licensing that has been made by the author, the transfer of copyright ownership, the transfer certificate and documents. These provisions have facilitated the owner to exercise the right to dispose of the work as he wishes in the most convenient way. Accordingly, any assignment of copyright ownership or any other documents belonging to copyright can be confirmed at the Copyright Office if these documents are submitted for confirmation with the standard signature of the person making the assignment, or if these documents are accompanied by a guarantee or notarization that they are true copies of the signed documents.

2.3. TERM OF COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND LIMITATIONS ON COPYRIGHT

2.3.1. Duration of copyright protection

Work first created on or after January 1, 1978

A work created (first fixed in tangible form) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the time of creation and is generally protected for the life of the author, plus 70 years after the author's death. In the case of a "joint work created by two or more authors other than a work for hire", the term extends 70 years after the death of the last author. For works for hire, and pseudonymous or anonymous works (unless the identity of the author is disclosed in the records of the Copyright Office), the term of copyright protection is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Works first created before January 1, 1978, but not published or registered on that date

These works are automatically protected by law and are federally copyrighted. The term of copyright protection for these works is generally calculated in the same way as for works created on or after January 1, 1978: protection for the author's life plus 70 years or a term of 95/120 years applies to these works. The law states that in any event, the term of protection for such works ends before December 31, 2002, and for works published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright protection shall not end before December 31, 2047.

Works first created and published or registered before January 1, 1978

Under the Copyright Act as it was in effect before 1978, copyright was acquired on the date of publication of the work with a copyright notice, or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In both cases, the initial term of copyright lasted 28 years from the date of copyright acquisition. During the final (28th) year of the initial term, the copyright was eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal period from 28 years to 47 years for copyrights that were in effect on January 1, 1978, or for pre-1978 copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), making these works eligible for a total term of protection of 75 years. Public Law 105-298, enacted on October 27, 1998, further extended the renewal period for copyrights still in effect on that date by another 20 years, bringing the renewal period to 67 years and the total term of protection to 95 years.

Public Law 102-307, enacted June 26, 1992, amended the Copyright Act of 1976 to provide for automatic renewal of copyrights.

works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. Although renewals are automatically granted, the Copyright Office does not issue renewal certificates for such works unless a renewal application and fee have been submitted to the Copyright Office for registration.

Public Law 102-307 provides that renewal registration is not required. Therefore, filing a renewal registration is no longer required to extend the copyright term from the initial 28 years to the full 95-year limit. However, there are some advantages to filing a renewal registration during the 28th year.

For further information on copyright renewal and copyright terms, please see Circular No. 15, Copyright Renewal ; Circular No. 15a, Copyright Term ; and Circular No. 15t, Copyright Term Renewal . Registration is not a condition for copyright protection. Required documents for copyright registration: Except as provided in Clause (c), the documents required for registration shall include:

- For unpublished works, a complete copy or recording;

- For published works, two copies or recordings are the standard version;

- For a work first published outside the United States, a copy or phonorecord as published;

- For a part of a compilation, a copy or recording is the standard version of that compilation.

Copies or recordings deposited with the Librarian of Congress pursuant to Section 407 may be used to complete a filing pursuant to the provisions of this Section if they are accompanied by the prescribed fee and application, and any additional identifying documentation that the registrar may require by regulation. The registrar shall specify in regulation the requirements for

A request under which copies or recordings are made available to the Librarian of Congress under Section (e) of Section 407, other than for deposit, may be used for the purpose of completing the filing under the provisions of this section.

2.3.2. Restrictions on copyright

Like the laws of other countries, the United States Copyright Law also provides for restrictions on the rights of authors to their works. The United States Copyright Law specifically provides for restrictions on the owner of a work in the following cases:

a) Limitations on exclusive rights: fair use . Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 106 and 106A, a permitted use of a copyrighted work includes any use by reproduction in the form of a photocopy or phonorecord or by any of the methods provided for in this Article for the purposes of commentary, criticism, news reporting or teaching (including the use of multiple copies for classroom use), research or study, which does not infringe copyright. In determining whether a use of a work in a particular case constitutes a permitted use, the following factors must be considered:

- The purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for non-profit educational purposes only;

- The nature of the protected work;

- The quantity and substance of the part used in the protected work as a whole;

- The effect of such use on the market potential or on the value of the protected work;

Noting that a work is unpublished does not preclude a finding of fair use if such finding is made based on consideration of all of the above factors.

b) Limitations of exclusive rights: reproduction for archival and library purposes

c) Limitations on exclusive rights: certain exceptions to the right of performance or disclosure

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 106, the following acts are not acts of copyright infringement:

- Performance or display of the work by instructors and students in courses involving direct instruction at nonprofit educational institutions, in classrooms or similar places devoted to instruction, unless, in the case of a cinematographic work or other audiovisual work, the performance or display of individual images is made through a copy that was not lawfully made under this Title, and the person responsible for the performance knows or has reason to believe that the copy was not lawfully made.

- Performing a non-dramatic literary or musical work or presenting a work, through or in a media setting;

- Performing non-dramatic literary works or musical works or dramatic musical works with religious content or presenting works at ceremonies at places of worship or at other religious associations;

- The performance of a non-dramatic literary or musical work other than in a public communication, without any direct or indirect commercial gain and without any payment of fees or other compensation for the performance to any performer or organizer of the performance;

- Providing a transmission involves performing or displaying a work by means of public reception of that transmission on a receiving apparatus of a type normally used in households;

- The performance of a non-dramatic musical work by a Government agency or a non-profit agricultural or horticultural organization at an annual fair or exhibition organized by that agency or organization; the exception provided for in this Article shall extend to any liability for copyright infringement otherwise imposed on that agency or organization, in connection with joint or several liability, for the performance by a concessionaire or business operator or other person at such fair or exhibition, but shall not release any such person from liability for that performance;

- The performance of a non-dramatic musical work through the establishment of a public retail establishment open to the public on a large scale without any direct or indirect admission fee, where the purpose of the performance is to retail copies and phonorecords of the work, and the performance is not transmitted beyond the place where the retail establishment is located and is only within the main area where the sales are made;

- The performance of a non-dramatic literary work through or in a broadcasting process specially designed and directed preferentially to blind or other disabled persons who are unable to read printed materials in the normal manner by reason of their disability, or to deaf or other disabled persons who are unable to hear the audio signals accompanying the visual signals in a transmission, if such performance is made without any direct or indirect purpose of commercial gain and its transmission is made through the means of:

(i) Government agencies;

(ii) Non-commercial educational broadcasting stations (as defined in Article 397 of Law No. 47)...;

- A single performance of a literary or dramatic work that has been published at least 10 years before the performance date, through or in the process of being

transmission specially designed for and directed preferentially to blind or other disabled persons who are unable to read ordinary printed materials by reason of their disability, if such performance is made without any direct or indirect commercial gain and its transmission is made by means of the authorized transmission facilities referred to in Clause 8(iii), provided that the provisions of this clause shall not apply to more than one performance of the same work by the same performers or under the auspices of the same organization...

2.4. COPYRIGHT SYMBOLS AND REGISTRATION

2.4.1. Copyright symbol

U.S. law no longer requires the use of the copyright symbol, although it is beneficial. However, since the law previously required it, it is still appropriate to use the copyright symbol for older works.

The Copyright Act of 1976 required a copyright notice. This requirement was removed when the United States joined the Berne Convention, which took effect on March 1, 1989. Although works published before that date without a copyright notice may be in the public domain in the United States, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) restores copyright to certain foreign works first published without a copyright notice. For more information on the copyright amendments under the URAA, see Circular 38b.

The Copyright Office is not the authority to determine whether copies of works first published with a copyright notice before March 1, 1989, distributed on or after March 1, 1989, must bear a copyright notice.

The use of the copyright symbol can be important because it informs the public that the work is copyrighted, identifies the owner, and

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