The law on copyright?

Question

Information on public domain

Answer 1

Generally speaking, written material that has been published and copyrighted in America before January 1, 1923 are all public domain at this time.  This satisfies the 95 year rule for material written 95 years prior to the current year (2008).  Also,works published and copyrighted after that date are generally subject to the 70 year rule, i.e. it is copyright protected for 70 years following the death of its author(s).  For example if the author died in 1933 then the book (if it is a book) is probably now out of copyright.

There are a number of "howevers" to be concerned with though.  Copyright is often different for images, especially those held privately.  Also there can be cases of copyright being restored even though the work may have been in public domain.