Copyright Permission In The Digital Age

The Sonny Bono Term Extension Act, also passed in 1998, adds 20 years of copyright protection, which means that no works will automatically fall into the public domain until 2019. It does not affect works already in the public domain, that is, any work published in 1922 or before. This does not mean that every creation published between 1923 and the present is protected by copyright, but the major corporate producers, like the Disney Co., made all scheduled copyright renewals prior to 1978 and enforce them regularly.