Section V Duration of Copyright
“Copyrights shall be granted for the term of twenty-eight years from the time of recording the title thereof.”1440
“The author, inventor, or designer, if he be still living, or his widow or children if he be dead, shall have the same exclusive right continued for the further term of fourteen years, upon recording the title of the work or description of the article so secured a second time, and complying with all other regulations in regard to original copyright, within six months before the expiration of the first term: and such persons shall, within two months from the date of said renewal, cause a copy of the record thereof to be published in one or more newspapers printed in the United States for the space of four weeks.”1441
In Callaghan v. Myers1442 it was said that if by an error the notice of copyright on a published book bore a date prior to the actual year of publication the result would be not that the notice was bad, but that the term of copyright would date from the year specified in the notice.
Notice that the right to obtain an extended term is not given to the “proprietor;” therefore an employer whose servant did literary of artistic work in his employment would not be entitled to an extension. It seems doubtful whether the servant in such a case, although the actual author, would be entitled to an extension: it is thought not.
If the author, inventor, or designer assigns his copyright, he does not part with his right to an extension unless this is clearly intended by the transfer.1443 From the terms of the statute one might doubt whether the right to obtain an extension is assignable. No doubt a contract to assign it would be valid, and a document purporting to assign it would be held equivalent to such, so that on the extension being acquired the purchaser could compel an assignment.
If the author of an unpublished work conveys all right, title, and interest in it to another, he certainly cannot take out an extended term to run against his grantee.1444 It seems doubtful whether he can take it out at all. Certainly his grantee cannot, and probably the author could not for his benefit.
If the original term is invalid there will be no right to a renewal.1445