How long do copyrights last??????

I dont believ it is fifty or one hudred years....... I think they have to re-newed aver so often
as long as Walt Disney can make money from Mickey Mouse, and buy off Congress with the profit.
17 years on written works, I thought.


Answer:
50 years i believe
Copyrights issued after 1978 last for 'the author's life plus seventy years.' Copyrights do not have to be renewed anymore.

You'll find all of this information 'straight from the horse's mouth' at the Library of Congress' Copyright Office Web Site which I've cited below:
Life of the author + 70 years

or 120 years if owner of copyright is a corporation (i think)
The copyright lasts as long as the item is being produced or is still being manufactured, or in other words, it could be around for a millenium, maybe longer.
The laws have been changed a lot over the last century. Renewal is prettymuch a given for any copyright held by a corporation. Not because it's easy, but because corporations saw too many properties go public domain, then get heavy use, so now all copyrighted works are jealously gaurded.

I believe, now, the copyright term can go as long as 75 years, and it can be pushed out with sufficient legal action - as Disney just did to keep the first appearance of Mickey Mouse out of the public domain, for instance.

Frankly, it's stifling literature in the so-called 'free world.'
Depends on the type of work. It's normally somewhere between 50 and 100 years.

There are a few exceptions. The Peter Pan novel has been granted eternal copyright.
Generally speaking, the lifetime of the author plus 70 years.

However, for anything older than the 1970s, the rules get quite complicated.

See here for more details:
http://wiki.answers.com/q/how_long_does_...