On Mar 26, 2007, at 8:27 PM, John Howell wrote:
My internet search skills are barely noticeable, and I've never come across anything that gives the whole story on the earlier versions of U.S. copyright, but I believe that the revision of the law in 1909 EXTENDED the period of copyright to 28 plus 28 years, which means that previously it would have been less, and my guess would be something like 14 plus 14 years. Which might in turn suggest that the original law in the 1790s might have been something like 7 plus 7 years. But the 1790s law didn't cover music anyway. That didn't happen until 1831.
Nope, the 1790 law was 14 years plus option for 14-year renewal. In 1831 that was enlarged to 28+14, and then in 1909 it became 28+28. Effective in 1978 we switched to the new regime, though there were several incremental extensions in years prior to that in anticipation of the switch. From 1978 the term starts at date of death, and terms have been growing ever since.
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