Didn't get it quite right the first time. This is from the
U.S. Copyright Office's website:
"Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured
either on the date a work was published with a copyright
notice or on the date of registration if the work was
registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright
endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was
secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the
copyright was eligible for renewal. The Copyright Act of 1976
extended the renewal term from 28 to 47 years for copyrights
that were subsisting on January 1, 1978, or for pre-1978
copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements
Act
(URAA), making these works eligible for a total term of
protection of 75 years. Public Law 105-298, enacted on
October 27, 1998, further extended the renewal term of
copyrights still subsisting on that date by an additional 20
years, providing for a renewal term of 67 years and a total
term of protection of 95 years."
Some say the U.S. has added to the copyright term to
synchronize with other nations; others say its to appease
Disney by keeping Mickey Mouse from falling into the public
domain . . . . . . .
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