{"id":30301,"date":"2026-02-13T03:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=30301"},"modified":"2026-02-10T05:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:52:28","slug":"faq-why-does-copyright-expire-by-kelley-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/13\/faq-why-does-copyright-expire-by-kelley-way\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ: Why Does Copyright Expire? by Kelley Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FAQ-Why-Does-Copyright-Expire-by-Kelley-Way-2.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-30305 size-full\" title=\"FAQ: Why Does Copyright Expire? by Kelley Way\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FAQ-Why-Does-Copyright-Expire-by-Kelley-Way-2.png\" alt=\"FAQ: Why Does Copyright Expire? by Kelley Way\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FAQ-Why-Does-Copyright-Expire-by-Kelley-Way-2.png 300w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/FAQ-Why-Does-Copyright-Expire-by-Kelley-Way-2-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Let\u2019s welcome back monthly columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?s=Kelley+Way\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelley Way<\/a> as she shares with us \u201cFAQ: Why Does Copyright Expire?\u201d Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What Happens When Copyrights Expire<\/h2>\n<p>On January 1, all the works published in 1930 entered the public domain, meaning their copyrights have expired and everyone can use these works without asking permission first.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, anytime copyrights expire, people start asking questions, like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Do I still have to pay someone (no)?<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">How long does copyright last? (<a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/16\/more-on-copyright-and-ai-by-kelley-way\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">see last January\u2019s blog article<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\">Can I now write my own Nancy Drew story (maybe, let\u2019s talk)?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why Copyright Has an Expiration Date<\/h2>\n<p><b>Today we\u2019ll cover the question, why does copyright expire at all?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The answer goes all the way back to the Constitution.<\/p>\n<h2>The Constitutional Basis for Copyright Limits<\/h2>\n<p>The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the power to create laws to promote \u201cthe Progress of Science and useful Arts\u201d (useful Arts = creative works like art, music and writing), by giving authors and inventors certain rights to their works.<\/p>\n<p>However, this provision specifically says these rights are for \u201climited Times,\u201d meaning that these rights have to have an expiration date.<\/p>\n<p>So, patents and copyrights must expire at some point.<\/p>\n<h2>Early Copyright Terms and the Two-Term System<\/h2>\n<p>But the Constitution does not say when these rights must expire, so why did Congress choose the deadlines they did?<\/p>\n<p>At first, the duration of copyright was very limited, just a couple of decades, just like patents today.<\/p>\n<p>If an author wanted, they could register their copyright for a second term; the idea here was that authors could renegotiate their contracts once they had a better idea of what their copyright was worth, and copyrights with little value could get into the public domain faster.<\/p>\n<p>But the courts quickly ruled that authors could sign away their rights to both terms in a single contract, so this \u201csecond chance\u201d idea was lost, and many authors lost their copyright early because they weren\u2019t aware they had to renew.<\/p>\n<h2>Expanding Copyright Duration<\/h2>\n<p>As copyrights became increasingly valuable and made up significantly more of America\u2019s GDP, Congress increased the duration of copyrights, so authors could make more money from their works (and pay more taxes).<\/p>\n<p>But even with a longer term, the two-term system continued to cause problems for everyone, as more court cases made the legal landscape trickier to navigate and caused more than one unfair outcome.<\/p>\n<h2>The 1976 Copyright Act<\/h2>\n<p>Finally, Congress overhauled the system with the 1976 Copyright Act, which got rid of the two-term system and extended copyright duration to the author\u2019s lifetime plus fifty years.<\/p>\n<p>The idea here was to make sure that copyright royalties would give the author income for the duration of his or her life and allow him or her to provide for his or her children too.<\/p>\n<h2>Further Extensions and the Current Term<\/h2>\n<p>So far, this system has worked fairly well, but of course some entities (*cough* Disney Corporation *cough*) felt this still wasn\u2019t long enough.<\/p>\n<p>These entities petitioned Congress to extend copyright duration still further, and Congress agreed and added another twenty years to the length of copyright.<\/p>\n<p>So now copyright lasts the life of the author plus seventy years, ensuring that an author can provide for his or her children and grandchildren (or a corporation can profit for many years to come, if you want to be cynical).<\/p>\n<h2>In Summary<\/h2>\n<p>So that\u2019s the history of copyright in a nutshell.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally there\u2019s more to the story, but you can only fit so much into a blog article.<\/p>\n<h2>Learn More<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to hear more about why copyright expires, or you want to learn about how this affects your copyright rights, please feel free to email me at <a href=\"mailto:kaway@kawaylaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">kaway@kawaylaw.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Want to read more articles like this one Writer\u2019s Fun Zone? <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/contact-beth\/#signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subscribe here.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">***<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>ABOUT THE AUTHOR<\/h2>\n<p><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2019\/06\/07\/what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-california-consumer-privacy-act-ccpa-by-kelley-way\/kawaylaw.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"kawaylaw.com noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-19891 tc-smart-load-skip tc-smart-loaded\" title=\"Kelley Way\" src=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/way18CRWEB-240x300.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/way18CRWEB-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/way18CRWEB-640x800.jpg 640w, https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/way18CRWEB.jpg 700w\" alt=\"Kelley Way\" width=\"150\" height=\"188\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kelley Way was born and raised in Walnut Creek, California. She graduated from UC Davis with a B.A. in English, followed by a Juris Doctorate. Kelley is a member of the California Bar, and an aspiring writer of young adult fantasy novels. More information at <a href=\"http:\/\/kawaylaw.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">kawaylaw.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why does copyright expire? A clear, accessible look at the Constitution, public domain, and how copyright terms evolved over time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[7451,7460,231,7453,447,7458,7461,7450,5319,7455,934,7320,7457,7456,120,6104,7459,7452,7454],"class_list":["post-30301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips","tag-7451","tag-1976-copyright-act","tag-authors","tag-congress","tag-copyright","tag-deadline","tag-disney-corporation","tag-expire","tag-history","tag-inventors","tag-kelley-way","tag-legal-landscape","tag-limited-times","tag-patents","tag-public-domain","tag-questions","tag-second-term","tag-the-constitution","tag-the-progress-of-science-and-useful-arts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>FAQ: Why Does Copyright Expire? by Kelley Way &#183; Writer&#039;s Fun Zone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why does copyright expire? 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