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The U.S. and all EU countries are members of the Beme Copyright Convention' which provides for a minimum copyright term of life-plus-50-years. Any nation, however, may provide a longer term of protection. Under the Convention and the EU Directive, the "Rule of the Shorter Term" dictates that if one member country provides a longer copyright protection term than another member country, the country that grants its own nationals a longer term may limit the protection it gives to nationals of the country with the shorter term to that shorter term. In other words, while EU copyright holders will enjoy life-plus-70-years protection by European governments, American "creator" copyright holders will only receive life-plus-50-years protection in Europe and in the U.S.
PROVISIONS
Under the bill, all copyrighted works (creator-owned and works-for-hire) receive term extensions of 20 years. Subsections 2(d)(1), (2) and 3(B) grant a total copyright term of 95 years (increased from 75 years) to works for which a copyright was secured before January 1 , 1964; subsection 2(d)(3)(A) grants a total copyright term of 95 years (increased from 75 years) to works for which a copyright was secured between January 1, 1964 and December 31, 1977; and subsection 2(b) grants a total copyright term of life-plus-70-years (increased from life-plus50-years) for creator-owned copyrights and a total copyright term of 95 years (increased from 75 years) for works made for hire, anonymous and pseudonymous works, where a copyright was secured on and after January 1, 1978.
Section 2. Duration of Copyright Provision
Subsection (a). Preemption With Respect to Other Laws
Section 301 (c) of the current copyright statute contains an exception to the general preemption of state common law and statutory copyright. The exception "grandfathers" state common law and statutory protection for sound recordings against record piracy for 75 yearsfrom February 15, 1972, the date the federal copyright statute was amended to first grant fwleral protection for sound recordings. Congress granted 75 years of protection because that was the total duration of an "old law" (pre1978) copyright. B«:ause this bill wi|ll extend the total term of protection for "old law" copyrights by 20 years, to a total of 95 years, a similar 20-year extension is be given to the "grandfathered" pre-February 15, 1972 sound recordings in H.R. 989.
Subsection (b). Duration of "New Law" Works
Section 302(a) of the current copyright statute grants a basic term of life-plus-50-years; in the case of joint works. Section 302(b) measures the "life" by that of the longest surviving co-author. The bill makes both terms life-plus-70-years. Section 302(c) of the current statute
The U.S. became a member of the Convention in 1989. 2