Difference between revisions of "Copyright term (Copyright)"

Revision as of 14:09, 15 December 2012

The Copyright term of a musical work ends after the death of the performer, a fixed period since the first publication of the recording and/or after the death of the composer.

The headquarters of the Public Domain Project are located in Küsnacht (Switzerland), therefore all articles in our MediaWiki and/or phonogram documents (flac files) are based under the Swiss copyright law.

Europe

European Union

• 70 years after the first publication^[1]
• After the death of the performer, but not before the expiration of the term of copyright
• 70 years after the composer's death
• The protection period begins from December 31st of that year, in which the event is set (e.g. death: 15 May 1941; public domain: 1 January 2012)^[2][3]

Switzerland

• 50 years after the first publication^[4]
• After the death of the performer, but not before the expiration of the term of copyright
• 70 years after the composer's death^[5]
• The protection period begins from December 31st of that year, in which the event is set (e.g. death: 15 May 1941; public domain: 1 January 2012)

North America

United States

• Corporate authorship: 120 years after creation and 95 years after the first publication date
• Individuals: life of the author plus 70 years and 95 years after the first publication date
• Note: Additional works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still protected by copyright in 1998 will not enter the public domain until 2019 or afterward.
• See also: Copyright Term Extension Act

References

See also

• Berne Convention (1886)
• Copyright law of Germany (UrhG)
• EU-Copyright Duration Directive

External links

• Copyright law of Germany
• Copyright law of Switzerland
• Directive 2006/116/EC is the consolidated version of 93/98/EC with amendments that is in force since 2007
• Adoption process of directive 2006/116/EC
• Copyright tags (Wikimedia Commons)