URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENTS (URAA)
For the last 2 decades the United States has been moving towards recognition of copyrights in works of foreign authorship. Through the World Trade Organization (WTO), we have made reciprocal recognition of intellectual rights a matter of policy with our trading partners world wide. It only makes sense that America's leadership position in the exploitation and marketing of creative works can only be sustained with friendly cooperation and mutual respect of individual rights. On another front, we have been conforming legislation concerning music copyright to the Berne Convention, which is the first international treaty on this matter acknowledged by the United States. The final step was to allow the restoration of rights that are enjoyed by foreign composers "everywhere" else in the world EXCEPT in the United States.
The restoration of rights is automatic upon request with effective date of January 1, 1996. To qualify, each work is considered on its own merit and must satisfy certain criteria-
- The work must be otherwise ineligible for US copyright registration. Usually this means that it was "first published" prior to 1978 outside of the United States, or it was published prior to 1978 in the US without a © copyright notice AND without permission of the author.
- The work must hold a current valid copyright granted by a Berne country or a World Trade Organization country. Currently this generally means that the author of the work did not die prior to 1955 (or 1935 for EU countries).
- The work could have qualified for an unexpired US registration had it been "first published" in the United States with notice upon creation. Currently this means that the original work was CREATED in 1925 -1977 (either publication or performance is evidence of creation, thus should the author petition the consideration of a later publication/revision then he is effectively placing the original in public domain and claiming a copyright only as to how the original was altered). There is no federal copyright protection available for pre-1972 phonorecords.
The restoration will have the same term limit as the underlying Berne or WTO grant, EXCEPT it can never exceed the copyright terms available for US authorship. URAA restored works created prior to 1925 have already returned again to public domain in the US. URAA restored works created in 1925 - 1977 are typically limited to the LESSER of 75 years total OR life plus 50 years of the author (or 70 if EU). Unpublished works or works published after 1978 are eligible for regular US copyright registration and thus are not subject to URAA. However works created in an ineligible government continue to be public domain in the United States, but they too could be restored once they become recognized.
Home Music Copyrights