Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, , is the first title of the Copyright Amendments Act of 1992, an act of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
that amended copyright renewal provisions of
Title 17 of the
United States Code
In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...
enacted under
Copyright Act of 1976
The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, cod ...
. The act eliminated the previous requirements under US law that a second term of
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
protection is contingent on a
renewal registration with the
U.S. Copyright Office
The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who are ...
. It amended the
Copyright Act of 1976
The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, cod ...
.
Renewal system prior to and following the 1992 amendment
Under the
1909 copyright, works copyrighted in the United States before January 1, 1978, were subject to a renewal system in which the term of copyright was divided into two consecutive terms.
Strict time limits were imposed on renewal registration to secure the second term and extending copyright to the maximum length. Current copyright law is contained in title 17 of the United States Code. The Copyright Act of 1976 came into effect on January 1, 1978, and retained the renewal system for works that were copyrighted before 1978 and were still in their first terms on January 1, 1978. The statute, for these works, provides for a first term of copyright protection lasting 28 years, with the possibility for a second term of 47 years. This earlier system is also referred to as an "opt-in" system since authors would have to take the necessary steps required to claim the second term.
The 1992 amending legislation secures this second term for works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977, without a renewal registration requirement. This system has been referred to as an "opt-out" system because it provides for copyright protection even if it is not requested by the author of a work. However, if a copyright originally secured before January 1, 1964, was not renewed at the proper time, protection would have expired at the end of the 28th calendar year of the copyright.
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-298) twenty more years were added to the second term for works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. This made the total duration of copyright for these works 95 years.
Benefits of filing copyright renewal application
The
copyright office
The United States Copyright Office (USCO), a part of the Library of Congress, is a United States government body that maintains records of copyright registration, including a copyright catalog. It is used by copyright title searchers who are ...
does not issue a renewal certificate, though renewal is secured automatically, unless the renewal application and fees are received and registered at the Copyright Office. The Copyright Office outlines the following benefits of filing a Copyright Renewal Application:
# The renewal copyright is established in the name of the renewal claimant on the effective day of renewal registration. If the renewal registration was not made in the 28th year, the renewal copyright is secured by the party entitled to claim renewal by December 31 of the 28th year.
# The Copyright Office issues a renewal certificate which acts as prima facie evidence of the validity of copyright during renewal and extended term.
# The right to use derivative works in the extended period might be impacted by renewal registration.
However, in cases where no renewal registration was made, important benefits such as statutory damages and attorneys fees can still be secured by filing a renewal registration anytime during the renewal term.
Eligibility to claim renewal
The law specifies the persons who are eligible to claim renewal copyright. Apart from anonymous works, the following are eligible to claim renewal:
# The author, if living
# The widow or widower of the author or the children or both, if the author is dead.
# If there are no immediate family members, and there is a will, then the author's executors can claim renewal.
# If there is no immediate family or will, the next of kin may claim the copyright.
A copyright proprietor or owner may claim renewal in only the following cases:
# Posthumous work
# Periodical, cyclopedic, or composite work
# Work copyrighted by a corporate entity
#
Work made for hire.
Music industry implications
Many critics viewed the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, which was backed by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
, as an attempt to prevent many songs from falling into the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
because of procedural difficulties and mismanagement. In the past several authors had lost considerable royalties on their works because they were not aware of the renewal procedure; this act aimed to prohibit such instances from occurring.
["Bush Likely to OK Bill That Would Renew All Pre-1978 Copyrights."](_blank)
Billboard 20 June 1992.
A ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine article
mentions the complaint of Jacqueline Byrd, widow of Robert Byrd, the songwriter who wrote “Little Bitty Pretty One”, a 1957 hit. Byrd was informed by the Copyright Office that they had not received the renewal application for the song, and hence they would be ending royalty payments. Had the song been renewed, Byrd and her four children would’ve received payments till 2037. This incident was used to convince lawmakers about the need for such an amendment.
Reaction against the 1992 amendment
In 2007, four plaintiffs—the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
and its founder
Brewster Kahle
Brewster Lurton Kahle ( ; born October 21, 1960)[Alexa Internet profile](_blank)
, via juggle.com. accessed Novemb ...
, and
Prelinger Archives
The Prelinger Archives is a collection of films relating to U.S. cultural history, the evolution of the American landscape, everyday life, and social history. It was in New York City from 1982 to 2002 and is now in San Francisco.
History
The Arc ...
and its founder
Rick Prelinger
Rick Prelinger is an archivist, professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz; writer and filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives, a collection of 60,000 advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films acquired by th ...
—filed the case ''
Kahle v. Ashcroft'' in the
Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, Del ...
, seeking a declaration that the Copyright Renewal Act was unconstitutional. The Internet Archive is a partner in the
Million Book Project
The Million Book Project (or the Universal Library) was a book digitization project led by Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science and University Libraries from 2007–2008. Working with government and research partners in India (Dig ...
, a venture that aimed to scan over a million books to make it available to the public on the Internet. The plaintiffs argued that there are several cases where it is impossible to locate the authors. These
orphan works
An orphan work is a copyright-protected work for which rightsholders are positively indeterminate or uncontactable. Sometimes the names of the originators or rightsholders are known, yet it is impossible to contact them because additional details ...
could be used to contribute to projects that utilized
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
works. However, the 1992 amendment, by removing the renewal requirement of these works, prevented such works from falling into the public domain.
The district court dismissed the case. The
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District o ...
affirmed the dismissal on January 22, 2007, saying that they had essentially made the same arguments as made in the
''Eldred'' case, which had already been rejected by the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
.
Other Titles of the Copyright Amendments Act of 1992
National Film Preservation Act of 1992
The
National Film Preservation Act of 1992 The National Film Preservation Act is the name of several federal laws relating to the identification, acquisition, storage, and dissemination of " films that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Legislative history 1988
The ...
was included in the Copyright Amendments Act of 1992 as Title II. This act replaced the previous
National Film Preservation Act of 1988 The National Film Preservation Act is the name of several federal laws relating to the identification, acquisition, storage, and dissemination of "films that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Legislative history 1988
The ...
and reauthorized the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
and the
National Film Preservation Board
The United States National Film Preservation Board (NFPB) is the board selecting films for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. It was established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988. The National Film Regi ...
of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
until 1996 (four years after the date of enactment). It also included instructions for the
Librarian of Congress
The Librarian of Congress is the head of the Library of Congress, appointed by the president of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, for a term of ten years. In addition to overseeing the library, the Libra ...
.
Title III: Other Copyright Provisions
Title III of the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 repealed the previous requirement that the
Register of Copyrights
The Register of Copyrights is the director of the United States Copyright Office within the Library of Congress, as provided by . The Office has been headed by a Register since 1897. The Register is appointed by, and responsible to, the Libraria ...
report to Congress every five years regarding library and archives photocopying of copyrighted materials.
See also
*
Kahle v. Gonzales
''Kahle v. Gonzales'', 487 F.3d 697 (9th Cir. 2007) (previously named ''Kahle v. Ashcroft'') is a First Amendment case that challenges the change in the US copyright law from an opt-in system to an opt-out system.
Four plaintiffs, the Internet A ...
*
Copyright law of the United States
The copyright law of the United States grants monopoly protection for "original works of authorship". With the stated purpose to promote art and culture, copyright law assigns a set of exclusive rights to authors: to make and sell copies of thei ...
References
External links
Full text available here*U.S. Copyright Offic
Circular 15, ''Renewal of Copyright''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copyright Renewal Act Of 1992
102nd United States Congress
United States federal copyright legislation