01
Room 01
The law behind the shelf — the Sonny Bono Act, the 95-year term, and what arrives each January.
5 pieces in this room · all five rooms
01.01First on the shelf
Explains the term set by the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act and how it replaced the previous 75-year maximum. Walks through the arithmetic that places any 1929 work in the public domain on 1 January 2025 and any 1930 work on 1 January 2026.
01.02On the shelf
Examines the transition from the 1909 Act's renewable 28-year terms to the 1976 Act's life-plus-50 framework, and the complications that arose for works published between 1923 and 1977.
01.03On the shelf
Describes the annual public-domain expansion as a recurring event — what arrives each 1 January, what is due in coming years from the 1930s cohort, and why the cliff is not gradual but sudden.
01.04On the shelf
Details the pre-1964 requirement that copyright holders renew in the 28th year or lose protection entirely, and estimates how many films fell into the public domain through this failure.
01.05On the shelf
Covers the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of 1996 and the restoration of copyright in foreign works that had fallen into the US public domain for failure to comply with formalities.