Is Catcher in the Rye now in the public domain?

Question

As I understand U.S. Copyright law, any book published before 1978 was copyrightable for two 28-year terms, for a total of 56 years. Therefore, the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, published in 1951, would fall into the public domain this year--2007. That means that anyone who wants to turn Catcher into a film, stage play, musical, opera, ballet, TV show, or what have you, has the perfect right to do so, and J.D. Salinger can't do a thing about it. Am I right or am I wrong?

FYI, on those who've tried to secure the rights to adapt Catcher in the past:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catcher_in_the_rye#Attempted_film_and_stage_adaptations

Answer 1

The two 28-year terms no longer apply. Here's why:

When the 1976 Copyright Act was passed (on Jan 1, 1978), Congress added 19 years to the renewal term, bringing it from 28 years to 47 (for a total of 75 years). Copyrights already in their second term got the extra 19 years automatically. Copyrights in their first 28-year term on 12/31/77 (like Catcher in the Rye) got the 47-year renewal term as long as the copyrights were renewed in their 28th year.

So here's the question: was Catcher in the Rye renewed on time?

Answer: The copyright for Catcher in the Rye was registered on June 11, 1951, and was renewed on January 22, 1979. Catcher in the Rye will enter the public domain on January 1, 2047.

Note: The copyright term for all works increased by 20 years in 1998, when Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA). (It passed during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, without much press coverage or Congressional debate.) The term for pre-1978 works like Salinger's went from 75 to 95 years, and the term for 1978+ works went from life of the author plus 50 years to life plus 70 years. (The CTEA has nothing to do with the Berne Convention, which the US joined in 1989.)

Answer 2

Ok here is the real scoop. For any book first published from 1925 to 1963, if the renewal was made after the initial 28 year term, then it now has 95 years of protection. The change in the law is sometimes call the "Sonny Bono" Act. This strange provision is because of the change over from publishing dates, to author's death date plus 70 years, so that current US law conforms to the Berne Convention. So that is 95 years from first publication date, or 2046.

Answer 3

The Disney Copywrite thing only applies to things that are still used by the company. Generally if the owning company is still in business and distributing the item it will most likely fall under that law--Im not really certain on books though, that law might not even apply there.

Your best bet would be to ask an attorney or a book publisher.

Answer 4

certainly, the copyright expires in 2046. the 1st renewal grew to become into 28 years after the the 1st e book date of 1951 - which grew to become into 1979. After that, there have been 2 extensions of the renewal era - first to 40 seven years then to sixty seven years. in case you upload sixty seven years to 1979 - that places you interior the twelve months 2046. Had CITR been printed after a million/1978, CITR might have entered the everyday public area in 2080.

Answer 5

I just learned about copyrights in my intellectual property law class. A copyright exists for the rest of the creators life and then 70 years after their death.

Answer 6

I vaguely recall hearing about Disney (the corporation) causing all copyrights to be extended for a ridiculous number of years?? Anyway, Salinger was so protective about his work, undoubtedly his family will carry on his wishes. Anyway, I'd rather they let loose those dozens -- hundreds? -- of his short stories that saw the light of day once half a century ago.

Answer 7

Congress passed a copyright law within the past fifteen years which may guard copyrights for certain subject matters.

Answer 8

I think Salinger is pretty protective and, let's not forget, alive. I'm sure he can afford to take the measures to prevent losing his royalties.