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The Sonny Bono Act

Introduction

The duration of copyright is an important parameter for establishing protection allotted to authors and other copyright owners. This duration also serves as a dividing line between the property rights of property right owners and the public domain.

Public domain is the domain of unprotected work which is available for unrestricted and uncompensated use of the public.

The Sony Bono Act amended the Copyright Act by extending copyright terms for all categories of copyright works. The term was extended by additional 20 years in the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.

The Sonny Bono Act is the idiomatic name for the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. The Copyright Term Extension or Sonny Bono Act was passed in 1998. The act extended the duration of copyright protection by twenty years. Before the implementation of this act, most copyrights were protected for the life of the author plus 50 years. However, after this act, these works are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years.

The Sony Bono Act received a lot of attention because of diverse reasons. One of these reasons was the presence of the Walt Disney Company as a major proponent. The expiry date of the copyright term of Mickey Mouse was 1999. However, the act extended this term and Mickey Mouse remained out of the public domain for more years.

It was believed that the extension of the copyright would provide more protection to authors. The Copyright Term Extension Act was approved to protect the creative work in foreign countries as well. The Sonny Bono Act was also expected to provide more incentives to digitize and preserve works.

Discussion

Copyright History in the United States

Copyright is an issue that made most people's eyes glaze over. Copyrights are an important part of the law in the United States. In the United States, the Copyright Act of 1790 provided authors with an original term of fourteen years along with an optional renewal of fourteen years. With the passage of time, Congress decided to expand both the duration of the copyright term as well as types of works which were protected.

Initially the term of protection was extended from fourteen to twenty-eight years. The renewal term remained at the range of fourteen years under a two-tiered renewal system. When further changes were made, the two-tiered renewal system was maintained by congress and the renewal term was extended to twenty-eight years.

The Copyright Act of 1976 signified a change in the Copyright laws of the United States. The existing copyright laws required revision due to the advent of videocassettes, recorders, and photocopiers. In the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright term included a single term for the life of authors plus fifty years. There were diverse reasons behind the adoption of a single term. One of these reasons was to eliminate problems with the renewal of copyright protection. Another reason behind this modification was the accession of the United States to the Berne Convention. The United States joined the Berne ...