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Most creators are
amazed when they hear about the termination rights made
possible by the 1976 Copyright Act. By law it is possible for
a creator to recapture the rights transferred by grant, such
as a publishing contract, single song agreement,
administration agreement, or security for a loan. Even if the
creator has an outstanding balance due to advances,
termination is possible. However, the right to terminate is a
future contingent right, meaning you must take action
at a future time to exercise your right or it will expire. |
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The law took effect on January 1, 1978, an important date for
determining when a song can be terminated. The author can serve
notice of the intent to terminate, or if the author is no longer
living, his/her statutory successors can serve notice. The
Copyright Office does not provide a form for notification, but is
specific in their requirements of what must be included in the
notice.
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To
give an example, we will present the most customary circumstance
where a songwriter assigns his/her song to a publisher.
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For songs copyrighted prior
to 1978 and assigned by transfer of grant prior to 1978
there is a five-year future time window which gives
opportunity to terminate the grant. The window begins on the
56th anniversary of the earlier of either the
first registration of copyright or the first date the work
was published with copyright notice and extends through the
last day of the 60th year. The writer is to pick
a date within that window to terminate and notify the holder
of the grant. Most will pick the earliest date.
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Certain
guidelines are specified. The notification must
be no more than ten years prior to the termination date
picked by the writer, and no less than two years. Because
of the two year minimum notification period, there are
really only thirteen years in which to notify in order
to terminate in this first window. Terminating
in the first window would return the copyright to the
creator for up to 39 years of remaining copyright protection.
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For an older work in its
renewal term on the effective date of the Sonny Bono
Copyright Term Extension Act (effective October 27, 1998),
but for which the original termination window had expired, a
second window is possible at the 75th anniversary as
described above based on the same guidelines and extending
through the last day of the 79th year.
Terminating in this second window would return the copyright
for up to 20 years of remaining protection.
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For
songs that enter copyright protection or have a transfer
of grant on or after 1978, the law provides again a five
year time window for termination. The dates of
the window are predicated on the date of transfer of
the grant, meaning signing an assignment of the song. For
an assignment that includes publishing rights, the termination
window begins the earlier of 35 years from the first
publication date or 40 years from signing the transfer. For
an assignment that does not include publishing rights,
such as a security for a loan, the five-year termination
window begins 35 years after the date of signing the
grant.
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Unlike
for pre-1978 songs, there is no second window of opportunity. Miss
the first opportunity to terminate and there is no other. |
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This is a
simplified explanation of some of the guidelines. One has to
be prepared with many specifics regarding the work to
facilitate termination, including title, writers, copyright
dates, copyright numbers, date of publication, agreements
covering the work, the specific termination date, and possibly
identification and agreement of the statutory successors.
Notice must be served at the correct time.
Legacyworks,
LLC is a great source for providing this service to
authors and successors who recognize the great benefits the
law has given them in this right to terminate.
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© 2004 Legacyworks,LLC
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07/11/2004
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