The
Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended
copyright terms in the
United States. Since the
Copyright Act of 1976,
copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of
corporate authorship. The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.
[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date.
This law, also known as the
Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act,
Sonny Bono Act, or as the
Mickey Mouse Protection Act,
[2] effectively "froze" the advancement date of the
public domain in the United States for works covered by the older fixed term copyright rules. Under this Act, additional works made in 1923 or afterwards that were still protected by copyright in 1998 will not enter the public domain until 2019 or afterward (depending on the date of the product) unless the owner of the copyright releases them into the public domain prior to that. Unlike
copyright extension legislation in the European Union, the Sonny Bono Act did not revive copyrights that had already expired. The Act did extend the terms of protection set for works that were already copyrighted, and is retroactive in that sense. However, works created before January 1, 1978, but not published or registered for copyright until recently, are addressed in a special section (
17 U.S.C. § 303) and may remain protected until the end of 2047. The Act became
Pub.L. 105–298 on October 27, 1998.
