Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law

The Copyright Term Extension Act is also called The Sonny Bono Act, or The Mickey Mouse Protection Act. The act was given these monikers because the Disney Corporation and Mary Bono (Sonny Bono's widow) lobbied hard for the law's passage.

The Copyright Term Extension Act, which was signed into law in 1998, extended the period of copyright protection to: The life of the work's creator plus 70 years; and for works of corporate authorship- 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication- whatever comes first. After the aforementioned time periods have elapsed, the work becomes public domain.