History, (C)opyrighted II

Even a cursory understanding of intellectual property rights will show that the law put forth some 216 years ago has drastically changed. The first major revision came in 1831. To match the level of protection in Europe, Congress extended the initial copyright protection to 28 years. This extension would become a theme: in 1976, the Copyright Act was again revised to protect creative works for the life of the author plus 50 years. The previous maximum term of 56 years suddenly seemed paltry.

Tomorrow, we will examine the 1976 legislation and its varied results.