I posted a sticky about the US copyright law
here on MobileRead years ago (and Canadian law at the time. I included copies of the statutes with the relevant part colored...
You can can say Life + 50, Life + 70, or a lollypop. In the US,
it doesn't matter. All Life + X
are overridden by existing copyright extension.
Which is currently Copyright plus 95 years.
When the US went (mostly) Berne in 1978, the maximum copyright length,
for existing copyrights were extended to 70 years, from 56 years, regardless of Life + 50. The only possible people that could have been affected by the change to Life + 50 would be persons, who had published a work after 1921, and had died before 1925. A very small group indeed...
When that extension was about to expire, Congress was brib---excused me, lobbied to extend it to 95 years (and extend Life+50 to Life+70 as political cover)
- which was meaningless as nothing would expire under Life+50 that would be protected by Life +70 because all works were being protected by Copyright +70 years, which was extended to Life +95. There was a slip up and Congress didn't get it put in before the first Copyright + 70 slipped into the Public Domain. (Which is why copyright starts on Jan 1 1923 in the US.
(1978 + 50 = 2028 (Life + 50), what was going to expire that needed to be protected in 1998?)
Because of this Copyright plus X override, there has only been 1 year added to the Public Domain in the US in 40 YEARS!
As example - Zane Grey, the Western writer, died in 1939. In every true Life+70 country, his works (in his lifetime - posthumous is a different matter) went PD in 2010.
Except the US, where the ones after 1922 are still under copyright and will be until 2019 when 1923 will roll into the public domain -
assuming there is no further extension!
All extensions were lobbied by the MPAA, who also had a heavy hand in TPP negotiations.
Do you seriously think that the people who got 2 straight Copyright extensions didn't leave a back door to protect all their early films? We won't know until we see the text...
which is conveniently not available for weeks...
I don't mind people disagreeing with me - BUT GET THE BL**DY FACTS FIRST!
Here's the thread -
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53991