Attorney Steve® Copyright Essentials - Copyright Renewal Information

Introduction

In some circumstances copyrights can be renewed.  Many people are familiar with the Mickey Mouse case, but there are procedures and rules for renewal.

According to the United States Copyright Office Circular 15:

Who May Claim Renewal Renewal copyright may be claimed only by those persons specified in the law?

A. The following persons may claim renewal in all types of works except those enumerated in Paragraph B below:

1 The author, if living, may claim as the author.

2 If the author is dead, the widow or widower of the author, or the child or children of the author, or both, may claim as the widow of the author or the widower of the author and/or the child of the deceased author or the children of the deceased author.

3 If there is no surviving widow, widower, or child, and the author left a will, the author's executors may claim as the executors of the author.

4 If there is no surviving widow, widower, or child, and the author left no will or the will has been discharged, the next of kin may claim as the next of kin of the deceased author, there being no will. B. Only in the case of the following four types of works may the copyright proprietor (owner) claim renewal:

1 Posthumous work (a work published after the author's death as to which no copyright assignment or other contract for exploitation has occurred during the deceased author's lifetime). Renewal may be claimed as proprietor of copyright in a posthumous work. Renewal of Copyright ·

2 Periodical, cyclopedic, or other composite work. Renewal may be claimed as proprietor of copyright in a composite work.

3 Work copyrighted by a corporate body otherwise than as assignee or licensee of the individual author. Renewal may be claimed as proprietor of copyright in a work copyrighted by a corporate body otherwise than as assignee or licensee of the individual author. (This type of claim is considered appropriate in relatively few cases.)

4 Work copyrighted by an employer for whom such work was made for hire.

Renewal may be claimed as proprietor of copyright in a work made for hire

Contact a California / Arizona Copyright Law Firm

Since 2004, we have helped clients with a wide variety of Copyright-related issues.  Some of these issues include:

• Infringement of copyrighted movies on the internet (Strike Three Holdings movies - Blacked, Tushy, Vixen)
• Registration of architectural copyrights (ex. architect plans)
• Defense of companies accused of software piracy, license over-installation and EULA compliance violations (ex. Business Software Alliance, SIIA, Software Compliance Group, Microsoft, Adobe, Siemens, Solidworks/Dassault, Vero/Hexagon, Autodesk internal and legal audits
• Photo infringement cases involving Higbee & Associates in Santa, Ana, California, AP, Reuters, PicRights, Agence-France-Presse and many other photo rights holders
• Jewelry infringement defense
• Computer font infringement cases
• Illegal interception of TV signals (often brought under the federal telecommunications act or as a copyright infringement - illegal rebroadcast)
• Etsy infringement cases
• Infringement of mobile applications (Apple store / Google)
• Copyright fair use opinions for YouTube creators and film documentarians
• DMCA take down letters (send and respond)
• Many other infringement matters

We are one of the most experienced Copyright law firms in the Nation.  We have represented over 200 individuals and corporations in federal court in California, Arizona, Texas and New York.  We were recently identified as the Nationwide #1 leader (in terms of number of copyright cases handled) in 2020 by UniCourt.  Moreover, on the LexMachina overall list of top Copyright law firms in the United States, also in terms of cases handled, Vondran Legal® is at an impressive #21 slot (which includes both Plaintiff and Defense cases).

For more information, or to discuss your case, call us at (877) 276-5084 or fill out our contact form.

NOTE:  We also handle copyright Plaintiff cases (contingency fee recovery for select photo, book, eBook, movie, film, music, art, software, jewelry, architect or other types of infringement, usually of an ongoing nature).