How Long Does a Copyright Last?

A short tour of how long a U.S. copyright lasts — the modern life-plus-70 rule under the Copyright Act of 1976 (as amended by the Sonny Bono Act of 1998), the 95/120 rule for works made for hire, and the patchwork of renewal rules that still governs works published before 1978.

If you are the creator of an original work or you are looking to use the work of another, you may wonder how long a copyright lasts.

Once copyrights expire, the underlying works generally enter the public domain, allowing anyone to use them without fear of an infringement suit. Determining how long a copyright lasts is straightforward in theory but can be difficult in practice — different rules apply to different categories of works and to works created in different eras.

How Long Does a Copyright Last for Modern Works?

The answer depends on when the work was originally created. A work originally created on or after January 1, 1978 receives automatic protection from the moment of its creation until 70 years after the author’s death. (“Created” here means fixed in a tangible form for the first time; later publications of the same work do not restart the clock.)

So if you publish a book in 2014 and die on January 1, 2015, your book continues to enjoy protection until December 31, 2084. If you publish in 2014 but live until January 1, 2050, your book is protected from creation until December 31, 2119.

For works created by more than one person — such as a book coauthored by two individuals — protection lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author’s death.

Works for hire — such as content for a website that the website owner pays someone else to write — are protected for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter. The same rule applies to anonymous and pseudonymous works, unless the author’s actual identity is contained in Copyright Office records.

These rules apply only to works originally created on or after January 1, 1978, reflecting Congress’s overhaul of the copyright system through the Copyright Act of 1976. Different rules apply to works that predate that date.

For works originally created before January 1, 1978 but not published or registered until after that date, the length of protection is the same as for post-1978 works — with one caveat: the copyright for these works will not expire before December 31, 2002, and for works in this category not published before December 31, 2002, the protection lasts at least until December 31, 2047.

Works Published before 1978

Before 1978, a work received protection on the date it was published with a copyright notice or, in the case of unpublished works, on the date it was registered with the United States Copyright Office. Protection was not as automatic as it is today.

Once protection attached, it lasted 28 years, but during the 28th year the copyright could be renewed for an additional 28 years. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the renewal term from 28 years to 47 years, allowing a total of 75 years of protection.

In 1998, Congress further extended the renewal term by an additional 20 years through the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, bringing the renewal term to 67 years and the total term to 95 years. That extension brought protection for works published before 1978 into parity with the modern term for works for hire and anonymous works.

In 1992, Congress provided that all copyrights secured between January 1, 1964 and December 31, 1977 would be automatically renewed, so no affirmative step is necessary to extend protection. (An author who wants a renewal certificate from the Copyright Office must still submit a renewal application with the corresponding fee.)

Public Domain Day

Each January 1, all U.S. works first published 95 years earlier enter the public domain. As of January 1, 2026, this includes works first published in 1930 — for example, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and the original Bring ‘Em Back Alive by Frank Buck. The Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain maintains a useful annual list of newly public-domain works.

Disclaimer: This post is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Copyright duration depends on author status, work category, jurisdiction, publication date, and renewal history; consult a qualified intellectual-property attorney about your specific situation.

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