For Faculty > Copyright/Plagiarism

1 Term of joint works is measured by life of the longest-lived author.

2 Works for hire, anonymous and pseudonymous works also have this term. 17 U.S.C. § 302(c).

3 Under the 1909 Act, works published without notice went into the public domain upon publication. Works published without notice between 1/1/78 and 3/1/89, effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act, retained copyright only if efforts to correct the accidental omission of notice was made within five years, such as by placing notice on unsold copies. 17 U.S.C. § 405.

(Notes courtesy of Professor Tom Field, Franklin Pierce Law Center and Lolly Gasaway)

Definition: A public domain work is a creative work that is not
protected by copyright and which may be freely used by everyone.
The reasons that a work is not protected include:
(1) the term of copyright for the work has expired
(2) the author failed to satisfy statutory formalities to perfect the copyright
(3) the work is a work of the U.S. Government.

This chart adapted from Lolly Gassaway, University of North Carolina.
Last updated by UNC on 11/04/03.
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