Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database

The standard "rules of thumb" concerning U.S. copyright laws goes something like this:

Works published before 1923 have generally fallen into the public domain.

Works published after January 1, 1964, are almost always protected by copyright because the 1976 Copyright Act automatically renewed them.

The copyright status of any work published between 1923 and 1963 is very difficult to determine. Between those dates, a renewal registration was required to prevent the expiration of copyright. However, determining whether a work's registration was renewed is a challenge. Renewals received between 1950 and 1977 were announced and distributed only in a semi-annual print publication. The Copyright Office does not have a machine-searchable source for this renewal information, and the only public access is through the card catalog in their DC offices.

As a result, thousands of valuable genealogy books as well as many other works have never been republished because of concerns about copyrights. Now a new online database makes it much easier to determine whether a book's copyright has been renewed or not.

Project Gutenberg transcribed all the 1950-1977 renewals from the printed lists. Michael Lesk converted the transcribed information into a database format. Next, Stanford University provided online database servers, placed the data online, and then combined that data with the renewals for later years, which was already available on the Copyright Office's website. As a result, you now can quickly and easily find if any work was renewed in 1950 or later.

Note that this database covers only renewals, not original registrations, and is limited to books (Class A registrations) published in the US. Of course, any book printed before 1950 needed to be renewed some time between 1950 and 1977 to protect its copyright status. As a result, any book printed in the U.S. before those years and not listed in this database is now in the public domain.

This should be a great service for genealogy book publishers, family societies, and others. Thousands of genealogy books had copyright expiration dates between 1950 and1964, but publishers have been reluctant to republish them because the copyright renewal statuses have been unknown. This new database should eliminate many concerns, clearing the way for the republication of thousands of books.

The Stanford Copyright Renewal Database is available free of charge at http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home.

My thanks to Mary D. Taffet for letting me know about this valuable new online resource.

Comments

[D. Hawver]

"Of course, any book printed before 1950 needed to be renewed some time between 1950 and 1977 to protect its copyright status. As a result, any book printed in the U.S. before those years and not listed in this database is now in the public domain."

What about books published after 1923 but before 1950, which were renewed in 1949? How long did the renewal last?

[ClaireK]

D.-

You're confusing publication date and renewal date. Under the pre-1978 (aka the 1909) US Copyright Law, there was an initial term of copyright and a renewal term; the length of those terms varied over the years, but by the time the new law came into effect on Jan. 1, 1978, the first term was 28 years (and renewal was 47 years, for a total of 75 years) and the copyright registration had to be renewed during its last year. So a work published in 1923 would have been renewed in 1950 (hence the beginning date of this database). To be renewed in 1949, a work would have had to have been published in 1922, and it would have passed into the public domain in 1997. (Anything first published in the US before 1923 is now in the public domain).

If you meant a book PUBLISHED (not renewed) in 1949, its first term would have been 28 years (expired 1977 unless renewed in 1976), renewal term 47 years (2024). The same 28/47 terms would apply to any work published until 1963 -- so a 1963 work would have a first term of protection through 1991 (renewable in 1990), renewal term through 2038. There were (I believe) some extensions for late renewals, so the Sanford / LOC data contains renewals received through 1993. In other words, this database contains all relevant renewals for US-published books that are still under copyright protection.

Non-book items and foreign publications are another issue, as are unpublished works before 1978.

FYI, Works published in the US between 1964 and 1977 are protected for 95 years from publication (no renewals necessary). Works CREATED (does not require publication) between 1978 to present are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.

Hope that helps.
Claire K.

[Dick Eastman]

The information on when copyrights expire for the different years of creation/renewal are covered in great depth in the U.S. Copyright Office's brochure "How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work (Circular 22)." That publication is the definitive guide, published by the agency that enforces the rules.

There is a lot of mis-information about copyrights floating around the web. The U.S. Copyright Office's brochure "How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work (Circular 22)" is the one resource that I would believe.

You can read "How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work (Circular 22)" at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.html .

[Ifor Jackson]

Don't forget that this is U.S copyright law. Other countries have different rules

[Denise W.]

What about Italian copyright law? Does anyone know the laws about that?