Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It is indeed, but unfortunately that's the way it is for the future, and doesn't affect the "historical" situation for existing works. Most other countries have had "life + x" copyright laws for decades, but the US has gone through all sorts of different copyright laws during the 20th century, which has left things in a real mess. Some things are in copyright, others aren't according to whether their copyright was "renewed" or not. In most countries, you can tell whether a work is in copyright or not simply by checking when the author died. In the US, you have to do searches to establish whether or not a copyright was renewed, which makes things very, very complicated.
The US now has pretty much the same copyright laws as everyone else, but those won't actually affect anything until the 2040s. In the mean time, the situation is complex and messy.
|
I don't think it's any more complex than anywhere else where the law changes with time. Just look at the signatory dates for those acts. I think it's a mess everywhere, particularly with new media like digital in particular.