In 1998 the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension
Act (CTEA)
extended copyright protection from a duration of 50 years
to 70 years. Section 104 of that law exempts libraries
under limited circumstances from its provisions for published
works in their last 20 years of copyright protection.
Libraries and archives are permitted to reproduce published
works in their last 20 years of protection for purposes
of preservation, scholarship, or research so long as
the
work is not copied for commercial purposes and a copy
of the work cannot be obtained at a reasonable price.
During the last 20 years of any term
of copyright of a published work, a library or archives,
including a nonprofit educational institution that functions
as such, may reproduce, distribute, display, or perform
in facsimile or digital form a copy of such work, or
portions thereof, for purposes of preservation, scholarship,
or research, if such library or archives has first determined,
on the basis of a reasonable investigation, that none
of the conditions noted below in (1), (2), and (3) apply.
No reproduction, distribution, display,
or performance is authorized if —
- the work is subject to normal commercial exploitation;
- a copy of the work can be obtained at a reasonable
price; or
- the copyright owner or its agent provides notice
pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Register
of Copyrights that either of the conditions set forth
in (A) and (B) applies.
The exemption provided herein does not
apply to any subsequent uses by users other than such
library or archives.
