QuiltIndex:Copyrights
From QuiltIndex
US Copyright Terms and Public Domain for Authored Works
DURATION
Works created since 1978 are under copyright protection from the moment they are written (or saved on a computer) for the lifetime of the author plus 70 years. For works for hire, it's 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.
Prior to 1978, published works had to be registered with a copyright symbol to receive copyright protection and renewed by the 28th year to retain copyright protection.
Works created before 1978 but NEVER published (ie letters, scrapbooks) are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
All works published in the United States before 1923 are in the public domain.
If published 1923 through 1977 without a copyright notice, it is in public domain.
If published 1923 through 1964 with copyright notice, but not ³renewed², it is in the public domain.
Unpublished works whose authors died before 1938 is in public domain.
PERSONAL CORRESPONDENCE
The original copyright of a letter¹s contents is granted to the author and active copyright is transferred to the author¹s heirs.
I think personal correspondence falls under "unpublished works" which are protected for 70 years after the death of the author.
Any correspondence from an author who died before 1938 is in the public domain.
Personal correspondence donated by the heirs to an institution (ie. Mary Schafer to MSU Museum or Cuesta Benberry to AFAM), presumably those donor agreements included copyright transfer to the institution. BUT, for correspondence in those collections that was authored by others, the content would be copyrighted to the author and the author's heirs. Thus letters from Bertha Stenge to Cuesta, would still require permission from Stenge's heirs.
If any unpublished works in contributors' possession were published without gaining permission and heirs subsequently arose and contested their use, they could require us to take them off line, but there wouldn¹t be grounds for damages because the works were never registered with the copyright office (a requirement for enforcement of penalties).
References (taken from Peter Hirtle¹s Cornell chart: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/):
³Based in part on Laura N. Gasaway's chart, "When Works Pass Into the Public Domain," at <http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm>, and similar charts found in Marie C. Malaro, A Legal Primer On Managing Museum Collections (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998): 155-156. A useful copyright duration chart by Mary Minow, organized by year, is found at <http://www.librarylaw.com/DigitizationTable.htm>.
A "flow chart" for copyright duration is found at <http://www.bromsun.com/practices/copyright-portfolio-development/flowchart. htm>. See also Library of Congress Copyright Office. Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright: Provisions of the Law Dealing with the Length of Copyright Protection (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 2004) <http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf>.²
