What is a copyright duration?
A copyright duration is the amount of time that a copyright-holder has exclusive rights to their work. In South Carolina, the duration of a copyright is generally the life of the author plus 70 years, or 95 years after the first publication of a work for anonymous authors or for works made for hire. In the US, Congress has the power to extend copyright protection retroactively to works that have already been published; they have done so twice in the past, most recently in 1998. After the duration of copyright protection expires, these works will enter the public domain. This means that anyone can use, copy or create new works from the original work without having to seek permission from the copyright-holder.
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