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exercised as a unit by the person or persons who, under clause (2) of this subsection, own and are entitled to exercise a total of more than one half of his interest.

(2) Where an author is dead, his or her termination interest is owned, and may be exercised, by his widow (or her widower) and children or grandchildren as follows:

(A) The widow (or widower) owns the author's entire termination interest unless there are any surviving children or grandchildren of the author, in which case the widow (or widower) owns one half of the author's interest;

(B) The author's surviving children, and the surviving children of any dead child of the author, own the author's entire termination interest unless there is a widow (or widower), in which case the ownership of one half of the author's interest is divided among them;

(C) The rights of the author's children and grandchildren are in all cases divided among them and exercised on a per stirpes basis according to the number of his children represented; the share of the children of a dead child in a termination interest can be exercised only by the action of a majority of them.

(3) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period of five years beginning at the end of thirty-five years from the date of execution of the grant; or, if the grant covers the right of publication of the work, the period begins at the end of thirty

five years from the date of publication of the work under the grant or at the end of forty years from the date of execution of the grant, whichever term ends earlier.

(4) The termination shall be effected by serving an advance notice in writing, signed by the number and proportion of owners of termination interests required under clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection, or by their duly authorized agents, upon the grantee or his successor in title.

(A) The notice shall state the effective date of the termination, which shall fall within the five-year period specified by clause (3) of this subsection, and the notice shall be served not less than two or more than ten years before that date. A copy of the notice shall be recorded in the Copyright Office before the effective date of termination, as a condition to its taking effect.

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(B) The notice shall comply, in form, content, and manner of service, with requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation.

(5) Termination of the grant may be effected notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, including an agreement to make a will or to make any future grant.

(b) EFFECT OF TERMINATION.-Upon the effective date of termination, all rights under this title that were covered by the terminated grant revert to the author, authors, and other persons owning termination interests under clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (a), including those owners who did not join in signing the notice of termination under clause (4) of subsection (a) but, with the following limitations:

(1) A derivative work prepared under authority of the grant before its termination may continue to be utilized under the terms of the grant after its termination, but this privilege does not extend to the preparation after the termination of other derivative works based upon the copyrighted work covered by the terminated grant.

(2) The future rights that will revert upon termination of the grant become vested on the date the notice of termination has been served as provided by clause (4) of subsection (a). The rights vest in the author, authors, and other persons named in, and in the proportionate shares provided by, clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (a).

(3) Subject to the provisions of clause (4) of this subsection, a further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of any right covered by a terminated grant is valid only if it is signed

by the same number and proportion of the owners, in whom the right has vested under clause (2) of this subsection, as are required to terminate the grant under clauses (1) and (2) of subsection (a). Such further grant or agreement is effective with respect to all of the persons in whom the right it covers has vested under clause (2) of this subsection, including those who did not join in signing it. If any person dies after rights under a terminated grant have vested in him, his legal representatives. legatees, or heirs at law represent him for purposes of this clause.

(4) A further grant, or agreement to make a further grant, of any right covered by a terminated grant is valid only if it is made after the effective date of the termination. As an exception, however, an agreement for such a further grant may be made between

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the persons provided by clause (3) of this subsection and the original grantee or his successor in title, after the notice of termination has been served as provided by clause (4) of subsection (a). (5) Termination of a grant under this section affects only those rights covered by the grant that arise under this title, and in no way affects rights arising under any other Federal, State, or foreign laws.

(6) Unless and until termination is effected under this section. the grant, if it does not provide otherwise, continues in effect for the term of copyright provided by this title.

§ 204. Execution of transfers of copyright ownership

(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or his duly authorized agent.

(b) A certificate of acknowledgement is not required for the validity of a transfer, but is prima facie evidence of the execution of the transfer if:

(1) in the case of a transfer executed in the United States, the certificate is issued by a person authorized to administer oaths within the United States; or

(2) in the case of a transfer executed in a foreign country, the certificate is issued by a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, or by a person authorized to administer oaths whose authority is proved by a certificate of such an officer.

§ 205. Recordation of transfers and other documents

(a) CONDITIONS for Recordation.--Any transfer of copyright ownership or other document pertaining to a copyright may be recorded in the Copyright Office if the document filed for recordation bears the 30 actual signature of the person who executed it, or if it is accompanied by a sworn or official certification that it is a true copy of the original. Signed document. '

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(b) CERTIFICATE OF RECORDATION. The Register of Copyrights shall, upon receipt of a document as provided by subsection (a) and of the fee provided by section 70%, record the document and return it with a certificate of recordation.

(c) Recordation AS CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE.- Recordation of a document in the Copyright Office gives all persons constructive notice of the facts stated in the recorded document, but only if:

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(1) the document, or material attached to it, specifically identifies the work to which it pertains so that, after the document is indexed by the Register of Copyrights, it would be revealed by a reasonable search under the title or registration number of the work; and

(2) registration has been made for the work.

(d) RECORDATION AS PREREQUISITE TO INFRINGEMENT SUIT.-No person claiming by virtue of a transfer to the owner of copyright or of any exclusive right under a copyright is entitled to institute an infringement action under this title until the instrument of transfer under which he claims has been recorded in the Copyright Office, but suit may be instituted after such recordation on a cause of action that arose before recordation.

(e) PRIORITY BETWEEN CONFLICTING TRANSFERS.--As between two conflicting transfers, the one executed first prevails if it is recorded, in the manner required to give constructive notice under subsection (c) within one month after its execution in the United States or within two months after its execution abroad, or at any time before recordation in such manner of the later transfer. Otherwise the later transfer prevails if recorded first in such manner, and if taken in good faith, for valuable consideration or on the basis of a binding promise to pay royalties, and without notice of the earlier transfer.

(f) PRIORITY BETWEEN CONFLICTING TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP AND NONEXCLUSIVE LICENSE.-A nonexclusive license, whether recorded or not, prevails over a conflicting transfer of copyright ownership if the license is evidenced by a written instrument signed by the owner of the rights licensed or his duly authorized agent, and if:

Sec.

(1) the license was taken before execution of the transfer; or (2) the license was taken in good faith before recordation of the transfer and without notice of it.

Chapter 3.-DURATION OF COPYRIGHT

301. Pre-emption with respect to other laws.

302. Duration of copyright: Works created on or after January 1, 1977.

303. Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or copyrighted before January 1, 1977.

304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights.

305 Duration of copyright: Terminal date.

32 §301. Pre-emption with respect to other laws

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33 (a) On and after January 1, 1977, all rights in the nature of copyright in works that come within the subject matter of copyright as 35 specified by sections 102 and 103, whether created before or after that

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date and whether published or unpublished, are governed exclusively by this title. Thereafter, no person is entitled to copyright, literary property rights, or any equivalent legal or equitable right in any such work under the common law or statutes of any State.

(b) Nothing in this title annuls or limits any rights or remedies under the common law or statutes of any State with respect to:

(1) unpublished material that does not come within the subject matter of copyright as specified by sections 102 and 103, including works of authorship not fixed in any tangible medium of expression;

(2) any cause of action arising from undertakings commenced before January 1, 1977;

(3) activities violating rights that are not equivalent to any of the exclusive rights within the general scope of copyright as specified by section 106, including breaches of contract, breaches of trust, invasion of privacy, defamation, and deceptive trade practices such as passing off and false representation.

§ 302. Duration of copyright: Works created on or after January 1, 1977

(a) IN GENERAL.-Copyright in a work created on or after January 1, 1977, subsists from its creation and, except as provided by the following subsections, endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and fifty years after his death.

(b) JOINT WORKS.---In the case of a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire, the copyright endures for a term consisting of the life of the last surviving author and fifty 27 years after his death.

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(c) ANONYMOUS WORKS, PSEUDONYMOUS WORKS, and WORKS MADE FOR HIRE.--In the case of an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of seventyfive years from the year of its first publication, or a term of one hundred years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. If, before the end of such term, the identity of one or more of the authors of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is revealed in the records of a registration made for that work under subsection (a) or (d) of section 407, or in the records provided by this subsection, the copyright in the work endures for the term specified by subsections (a) or (b), based on the life of the author or authors whose identity has been revealed. Any person having an interest in the copyright in

an anonymous or pseudonymous work may at any time record, in