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Examining the 'Harmless Errors' Provision for Copyright Termination Notices

By Stan Soocher
December 21, 2009

Record labels fear the ticking clock that will allow recording artists to terminate post-1977 sound-recording assignments beginning in 2013. That's because '203 of the U.S. Copyright Act provides for a grantor's recapture of assigned copyrights during a five-year period beginning 35 years after publication or 40 years from the assigning of a work. The termination right applies beyond sound-recording copyrights. Pre-1978 copyright assignments may be recaptured under 17 U.S.C. '304(c) during a five-year period that begins 56 years after the copyright in an assigned work was initially procured.

Provision 'Little Utilized'

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