copyrighted descriptions

[Christopher A. Meacham]

At 01:04 PM 10/19/98 -0700, JOSEPH E. LAFERRIERE wrote:

>   To answer Susan's original question, the law in the
>US used to say that anything older than 26 years old
>is public domain and free to be quoted. I think they
>changed the length of time several years ago, but I am
>not sure.

Current US law states that the regular term of a copyright
is the life of the author plus fifty years.  The law provides
that, if 75 years after first publication or 100 years after
creation of a work, the records of the Copyright Office contain no
information about the author's being alive or about the death
of the author, the author will be presumed to have been dead
for 50 years, and anyone who, in good faith, relies on this
presumption cannot be charged with infringement.

Disclaimer:  I am not licensed to provide legal advice.  Please
consult an attorney before relying on this information.

Chris Meacham
Jepson Herbarium
U. C. Berkeley