Record the facts section 302 uses for a copyright term

Key facts

Human involvement

Yellow · Close supervision

How AI is used

Record the year the work was made, the year of first publication if the file states it, the year of the author's death if the file states it, whether the author's identity is generally known, and whether the file describes a joint work or a work made for hire. Do not state an expiry year and do not apply a presumption about the author's death.

What the lawyer must review

For a work created on or after 1 January 1978, section 302(a) says copyright subsists from creation and, except as the following subsections provide, endures for the life of the author and 70 years after the author's death. For a joint work prepared by two or more authors who did not work for hire, subsection (b) uses the life of the last surviving author and 70 years after that death. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, subsection (c) uses 95 years from the year of first publication, or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first. If, before the end of that term, the identity of one or more authors of an anonymous or pseudonymous work is revealed in the records of a registration under section 408(a) or (d), or in the records subsection (c) provides, the term becomes the term in subsection (a) or (b) based on the life of the author or authors whose identity has been revealed. Subsection (e) gives a presumption only after a person obtains a Copyright Office certified report of the kind the subsection describes. You do not apply that presumption from this record. Sections 303 and 304 were not opened, so you do not state a term for a work created before 1 January 1978. Section 101, which defines a work made for hire, was not opened. Section 201(a) says copyright vests initially in the author or authors of the work, and the authors of a joint work are coowners. Section 201(b) says the employer or other person for whom a work made for hire was prepared is considered the author, and owns the rights, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them. You decide which subsection of section 302 applies.

Written for / version

United States versionUS