http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act The Copyright Term Extension
Act (CTEA) of 1998 extended
copyright terms in the United
States by 20 years. Since the
Copyright Act of 1976 , copyright
would last for the life of the
author plus 50 years, or 75 years
for a work of corporate
authorship. The Act extended these
terms to life of the author plus 70
years and for works of corporate
authorship to 120 years after
creation or 95 years after
publication, whichever endpoint is
earlier. [1] Copyright protection for
works published prior to January 1,
1978, was increased by 20 years to
a total of 95 years from their
publication date.
The term extension was supported
for two key reasons. First,
"copyright industries give us [(the
United States)] one of our most
significant trade surpluses."
Second, the recently enacted
legislation in the European Union
had extended copyright there for
20 years, and so EU works would
be protected for 20 years longer
than US works if the US did not
enact similar term extensions.
Howard Coble also stated that it
was good for consumers since
"When works are protected by
copyright, they attract investors
who can exploit the work for
profit." [38] The term extension
portion was supported by
Songwriters Guild of America ,
National Academy of Songwriters ,
the Motion Picture Association of
America
, the Intellectual Property Law
Section of the American Bar
Association, the Recording Industry
Association of America
, National Music Publishers
Association
, the Information Technology
Association of America
and others. [39]