The current term of copyright protection extends from the date of the creation of the work until seventy years after the death of the author. After this point, the work enters the public domain and can be copied freely without regard to copyright infringement. This provides authors with long-term protection of their works.

Unless the terms of the contract specify otherwise, in the case of works commissioned under work-for-hire agreements, the copyright will last for ninety-five years after the date of publication. If the work is unpublished, the copyright of commissioned works under a work-for-hire agreement lasts 120 years.

Works created earlier than 1998 will enter the public domain earlier, depending on the original date of publication. This is still of historical interest when trying to determine when a particular work from the past is to enter the public domain, but any works created after 1999 will follow the rules outlined above.