Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary

§ 204. Execution of transfers of copyright ownership

(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of 3 law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or

4 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 acknowledgment 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.

16 § 205. Recordation of transfers and other documents

(a) CONDITIONS FOR RECORDATION.-Any transfer of copyright 18 ownership or other document pertaining to a copyright may be 19 recorded in the Copyright Office if the document filed for recordation 20 bears the actual signature of the person who executed it, or if it is 21 accompanied by a sworn or official certification that it is a true copy of the original, signed statement.

(b) CERTIFICATE OF RECORDATION.-The Register of Copyrights 24 shall, upon receipt of a document as provided by subsection (a) 25 and of the fee provided by section 708, record the document and 26 return it with a certificate of recordation.

(c) RECORDATION AS CONSTRUCTIVE NOTICE.-Recordation of a 28 document in the Copyright Office gives all persons constructive notice of the facts stated in the recorded document, but only if:

(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, as provided by section 407, has been made for the work.

37 (d) RECORDATION AS PREREQUISITE TO INFRINGEMENT SUIT.-No 38 person claiming by virtue of a transfer to be the owner of copyright 39 or of any exclusive right under a copyright is entitled to institute 40 an infringement action under this title until the instrument of trans

fer under which he claims has been recorded in the Copyright Office, but suit may be instituted after such rècordation 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 within two months after its execution in the United States or within four months after its execution abroad, or at any time before recordation of the later transfer. Otherwise the later transfer prevails if recorded first, 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.

12 (f) PRIORITY BETWEEN CONFLICTING TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP AND NON-EXCLUSIVE LICENSE.—A non-exclusive license, whether recorded or not, prevails over a conflicting transfer of copyright ownership if:

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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, 1967.

303. Duration of copyright: works created but not published or copyrighted

before January 1, 1967.

304. Duration of copyright: subsisting copyrights.

305. Duration of copyright: terminal date.

§ 301. Pre-emption with respect to other laws

(a) On and after January 1, 1967, all rights in the nature of copyright in works that come within the subject matter of copyright as specified by sections 102 and 103, whether created before or after that 24 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 law 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;

(2) any cause of action arising from undertakings commenced before Janaury 1, 1967;

(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.

4 § 302. Duration of copyright: Works created on or after January

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1, 1967

(a) IN GENERAL.—Copyright in a work created on or after January 1, 1967, subsists from its creation and, except as provided by the following subsections, endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and 50 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 second of the authors to die and 50 years after his death.

(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 75 years 17 from the year of its first publication, or a term of 100 years from 18 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 anony20 mous or pseudonymous work is revealed in the registration or other 21 public records of the Copyright Office, the copyright in such 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. (d) RECORDS RELATING TO DEATH OF AUTHORS.-Any person having an interest in a copyright may at any time record in the Copyright Of fice a statement of the date of death of the author of the copyrighted 27 work, or a statement that the author is still living on a particular date The statement shall identify the person filing it, the nature of his inter 29 est, and the source of his information, and shall comply in form and 30 content with requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall pre31 scribe by regulation. The Register shall maintain current records of 32 information relating to the death of authors of copyrighted works, based on such recorded statements and, to the extent he considers prac34 ticable, on data contained in any of the records of the Copyright Office or in other reference sources.

(e) PRESUMPTION AS TO AUTHOR's Death.-After a period of 75 37 years from the year of first publication of a work, or a period of 100 38 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first, any person who obtains from the Copyright Office a certified report that the 40 records provided by subsection (d) disclose nothing to indicate that

the author of the work is living, or died less than 50 years before, is entitled to the benefits of a presumption that the author has been dead for at least 50 years. Reliance in good faith upon this presumption shall be a complete defense to any action for infringement under this title.

§ 303. Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or copyrighted before January 1, 1967

Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1967, but not theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January 1, 1967, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case, however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before December 31, 1990; and, if the work is published before December 31, 1990, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31, 2015: § 304. Duration of copyright: Subsisting copyrights

(a) COPYRIGHTS IN THEIR FIRST Term on JanUARY 1, 1967.—The 16 duration of any copyright, the first term of which is subsisting on January 1, 1967, is governed by the provisions of the following two clauses:

(1) The copyright shall endure for twenty-eight years from the date it was originally secured: Provided, That in the case of any posthumous work or of any periodical, cyclopedic, or other composite work upon which the copyright was originally secured by the proprietor thereof, or of any work copyrighted by a corporate body (otherwise than as assignee or licensee of the individual author) or by an employer for whom such work is made for hire, the proprietor of such copyright shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such work for the further term of forty-seven years when application for such renewal and extension shall have been made to the Copyright Office and duly registered therein within one year prior to the expiration of the original term of copyright: And provided further, That in the case of any other copyrighted work, including a contribution by an individual author to a periodical or to a cyclopedic or other composite work, the author of such work, if still living, or the widow, widower, or children of the author, if the author be not living, or if such author, widow, widower, or children be not living, then the author's executors or in the absence of a will, his next of kin shall be entitled to a renewal and extension of the copyright in such work for a further term of forty-seven years when application for such renewal and extension shall have been made to the Copyright Office and duly registered therein within one year

prior to the expiration of the original term of copyright: And provided further, That in default of the registration of such application for renewal and extension, the copyright in any work shall terminate at the expiration of twenty-eight years from the date copyright was originally secured.

(2) Subsisting copyrights originally registered in the Patent Office prior to July 1, 1940, under section 3 of the act of June 18, 1874, shall be subject to renewal for a further term of forty-seven years in behalf of the proprietor upon application made to the Register of Copyrights within one year prior to the expiration of the original term of twenty-eight years.

(b) COPYRIGHTS IN THEIR RENEWAL TERM ON DECEMBER 31, 1965 OR RENEWED BEFORE JANUARY 1, 1967.-The duration of any copyright, the renewal term of which is subsisting on December 31, 1965, or which is renewed between December 31, 1965, and December 31, 1966, inclusive, is extended to endure for a term of 75 years from the date copy17 right was originally secured.

31:

(c) TERMINATION OF TRANSFERS AND LICENSES COVERING EXTENDED RENEWAL TERM.-In the case of any copyright subsisting in either its first or renewal term on January 1, 1967, other than a copyright in a work made for hire, the exclusive or non-exclusive grant of a transfer or license of the renewal copyright or of any right under it, executed before January 1, 1967, by any of the persons designated by the second proviso of subsection (a)(1) of this section, otherwise than by will, is subject to termination under the following conditions:

(1) Termination of the grant may be effected by the surviving person or persons who executed it. If, in the case of a grant executed by the author, the author is dead, termination may be effected by his widow (or her widower) and children; the children of any dead child of the author succeed to the right of their parent for

this purpose.

(2) Termination of the grant may be effected at any time during a period of five years beginning at the end of 56 years from the date copyright was originally secured.

(3) The termination shall be effected by serving an advance notice in writing, signed by all of those entitled to terminate the grant under clause (1) 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

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