Effective January 1, 1978, U.S. Copyright Law provided the opportunity for authors or their statutory heirs to recapture ownership
of their intellectual property by terminating past assignments.
This provision allows creators and their heirs to reclaim valuable
royalty streams as well as creative control (i.e. how, where and when their copyright can be used) of their intellectual property.
There are specific windows of time to act on these opportunities and varying rules that govern when and how the copyrights can be
reclaimed.
Many factors can be effect exactly when a copyright can be reclaimed but these are the general guidelines. Works that
were registered at the Copyright Office prior to January 1, 1978, can be terminated 56 years from the earliest date of copyright registration.
Termination for works created after January 1, 1978 can be effected 35 years from the date of execution of the grant. If the
grant included the right of publication, the termination date is the earlier of 40 years from the date of execution of the
grant or 35 years from the date of publication. Under both scenarios, the Notice of Termination can be served 10 years prior to the
date of termination but must be served at least two years prior to the date of termination.
A Notice of Termination is required
to reclaim these publishing rights. The Notice must meet all of the criteria outlined in the Copyright Law and be served to the
current publisher in a timely and exact manner. They must also be filed with the U.S. Copyright Office. Copyright Recapture specializes
in the creation of these Notices of Termination. To date, we have served notice on over 2000 works.
Serving Notice
of Termination at the earliest possible time is important for the following reasons. First, as soon as the notice is served to the
publisher, you are 100% vested. This allows you to will the future rights however you see fit and insures that the works will return
to the author or their heirs no matter what happens. It also opens an exclusive period of negotiation with the current publisher if
they wish to retain the works. There are numerous options in terms of these negotiations but Notice of Termination must first be served
to open these discussions.
Copyright Recapture makes the process of filing Notice of Termination as simple and easy
to understand as possible for our clients.