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Disney lobbied Congress heavily and Congressman Sonny Bono introduced legislation to extend copyright protection for an additional 20 years. This legislation passed in 1998 -- but only applied to items that were not yet in
public domain. Thus, an item copyrighted in 1992 was public domain after 75 years -- but anything copyrighted in or after 1923 was protected for 95 years.
So -- to play it perfectly safe and legal -- if copyright date on a published work is 1922 or earlier, item is now in public domain and may be freely used (but not necessarily re-copyrighted and sold). If copyright date is 1923 or later, it's best to leave it alone till at least year 2018!
So what good is a book published and copyrighted prior to 1923? Well, if it's a book of sheet music -- or a book of classic poetry, literature, or theater -- or a book of formulae, travel, or ... well, you get idea. Some things become dated -- but some things are just as current today as they were when they were originally published.
This doesn't mean you can find a book by Mark Twain in bookstore and freely copy and distribute it. You'll likely find copyright on that published work is fairly current. However, if you find an old version of same book published and copyrighted prior to 1923, then you can safely use it!
The best places to spot these treasures -- try your local public library, used bookstores, or estate sales.
Joey Robichaux maintains the Free Sheet Music site at http://www.freesheetmusic.net; he's using copyright law to make public domain sheet music available for download.
