Copyright Duration — 50 Years, 70 Years and the Public Domain
Protection is finite — and finiteness is by design
Related
"How long until anyone may use it?" — the answer is a table whose core logic fits in one sentence: protection is finite.
(An introduction to prevailing rules; not legal advice.)
Why a limit must exist
If rights were eternal, common culture would be locked: nobody could reprint Shakespeare, adapt folk songs, or re-record the classics. So the system draws a line between incentive to create and feeding the public domain — cross it, and the work enters the public domain, free for all.
The two common gears: 50 and 70 years
| System | General rule |
|---|---|
| China | Life of the author + 50 years after death (to 31 December of that 50th year) |
| US / EU | Life + 70 years (extended in the US by the 1998 act) |
The same work may be free in China and protected in the US — which is why cross-border use follows the rules of the place of use.
The arithmetic for special works
- Joint works: counted from the last surviving author;
- Works of legal entities (owned by a company, etc.): usually 50 years from first publication (Chinese rule);
- Anonymous works: 50 years from publication (Chinese rule);
- Performances and sound recordings carry their own clocks (recordings: 50 years from fixation in China, with refinements after the 2020 amendment — check the current text for real cases).
The three most common traps
1. A public-domain work ≠ the recording is public: a 19th-century tune is free, but a 1950s recording of it may still be protected — score and sound are two different things (see how many rights live in one song); 2. Public domain ≠ no duties at all: attribution and integrity remain protected without a term limit under Chinese law — the author's name is still the author's name; 3. Adaptations grow an onion: adapt a free work and your adaptation creates new rights of your own — layers wrap layers; users must watch the newest skin.
Listen: base material, free for all
The public domain is like music's most basic material — belonging to no one. Hear a full chromatic scale: twelve notes, owned by no one.
Next
- A practical checklist for the public domain: public-domain reckoning.
- The station after the public domain: the CC licence family.
- Creating from the most basic material: Melody.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- 中国「作者终生加死后 50 年」、欧美「死后 70 年」（美国 1998 年延长法案）为通行制度表述，不构成法律意见
- 涉及的曲目均标注来源与许可档位，可在线试听
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.