Renewal Notices

Works that were published with a copyright notice between January 1, 1928 and December 31, 1963

In a nutshell, works published during these years were governed by the 1909 Copyright Act, which differs substantially from the 1976 Copyright Act—specifically with regard to the duration of a copyright. Works under the 1909 Act were protected for 28 years. At the end of the 28 years, the copyright was eligible to be extended for another 28 years as long as a renewal notice was formally filed with the U.S. Copyright Office. If a work was not renewed, the copyright expired and the work entered the public domain.

An exception to this rule came about when Congress passed the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) in 1994.