> I need someone's help to bring a little sense into a recent chat conversation. If I created and registered a character in a cartoon with the copyright office in 1928, and I died in 1966, when would my character fall out of copyright (and into public use)? Here is what the opyright Office says (I don't know how to interpret this: my brain is off today):


This doesn't exactly answer your question (litigants are in court as we speak arguing their sides of the answer to your question, so I'm not sure it can be/has been answered yet). But there are other things that factor into your question, and these may help show why it hasn't been answered yet.

The way I understand it, working for attorneys, yet not having read the bulk of your post, and further, NOT TRYING TO PRACTICE LAW, is this:

The Copyright Reform Act made it possible for the people who sold their copyrights for minimal amounts years ago, only to find them worth millions today, to reclaim a portion of their ownership in the copyright, not the whole ownership of it.

You also have to remember that these copyrights were sold to companies, not individuals, so your individual death (as in your example) matters not at all; for instance, Walt Disney himself did not own the copyright -- Walt Disney Company, which went on, obviously, well past Walt's death, owns the copyright. Walt's death has no bearing on the ownership of the copyright.

Further, you have to remember that what the individuals sold to the company to be copyrighted was usually just the character, not a lot, if anything, DERIVITIVE of the character. All of the derivitive works were done by employees of the company, and the copyrights were obtained and maintained, and the benefit of the copyrights innured to, the company. How much is derivitive and how much actually is covered by the copyright is ANOTHER question actively being argued in court right now.

That's all I can think of for the moment, but I'll be curious to see what someone more knowledgable has to add.