Copyright Information

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This page was last updated on September 5, 2026.

Disclaimer

I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice, but it is the result of limited research on my part to help my own understanding of copyright law.

Overview

The most recent copyright law, signed into law in December 2014, essentially says that anything and everything created after January 1, 1978 is automatically copyrighted, whether it is marked as "Copyright" or not. The general guidance is a publication is copyright-protected 95 years from date of first publication, or 120 years from date of creation. All that is needed to prove copyright, is proof of date of creation by an author, photographer, or music composer, including a "work" created by an employee for a corporation. These same range of years also apply if the author, photographer, or music composer signs over copyright to a publisher, which is very seldom done. In such case, the proof is the date of publication by a publisher. Of course, it makes it simpler if a work is actually marked as "Copyright," with a year. (Copyright.gov)

"Created by an employee for a corporation" means that every bulletin, instruction, or equipment roster listing created in a railroad office by an employee as part of his work responsibilities, for the benefit of railroad management or other employees can be considered by the employer as copyrighted material. Prior to the changes to the law in 1978, this wasn't the case, and only works where the author or owner went to the trouble to apply for copyright protection were so protected. This was universally true of books, magazines, and published photos, but relatively rare for incidental railroad paper. Public timetables were meant for public use, whereas employee timetables were not.

As I understand it, copyright law only applies when the entire work is copied without the author's permission. It also allows any copy to be made for personal use, and for use in a brief review of the work.

An example of a photo taken before 1978, and not specifically copyrighted, are the photos by the late Will Whittaker. As far as I know the entire Whittaker collection was donated to the Huntington Library at UCLA with the stipulation that previously distributed images are in the public domain. This is likely because Whittaker sold so many negatives and prints while he was alive. Only images distributed by the library themselves may be copyrighted, and only a minimum charge made for duplication and shipping. No publishing fee is allowed.

Concerning the effort to make available digital copies of books and magazine articles that were only published to paper, and have never been reprinted due to their small print runs and small potential market (including railroad themed publications), Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig wrote, "We need access to our past, not just the part of our past that continues to be commercially viable."

The current focus on rights management by publishers at all levels has certainly quashed uncounted projects, which would have a narrow subject and a narrow audience, with little interest to the general public. This includes materials preserved by state and local archive organizations, which are turning down donations of historical items and materials, and limiting access to existing materials for fear of rights management issues. It is a simple case of the classic fable about the dog in the manger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_in_the_Manger

By preventing the release of historical projects, the assembled multitude of rights management fear mongers, and their hungry lawyers, are forcing an ever-growing lack of an understanding of history, dooming society to forever relearning our mistakes and successes.

Several large commercial publishers sued the Open Library Project (and its parent, the Internet Archive), over its limited policy of making digital books available during the COVID-19 pandemic. In late 2023, the parties reached a settlement. (Read the Wikipedia article)

Many have remarked that limited content can be digitally shared under the concept of "Fair Use." Under the U. S. Copyright law, a limited number of digital images (photos and text) can be used for non-commercial purposes and for educational reference and research. Digital preservation is also allowed under fair use, such as making your own digital backup (change of format) of a purchase of a copyrighted work that was published solely to paper. (U. S. Copyright Law, Sections 107 through 118, Title 17, U. S. Code.)

We can only hope that the few publishers who make profits, and admittedly provide hundreds of jobs, will loosen their "Dog in the Manger" grip and attitude that libraries should be closed, and for *all* publishers to be the sole source of historical information. ("Dog in the Manger" being a metaphor used to speak of someone who spitefully prevents others from having something for which that same someone has no use.)

Copyright Myths Explained

Google Books

Google Books Law Suit Decision -- A New York Times article from November 2013 about the Google Books suit being dismissed.

Both Google and the HathiTrust have benefited from recent court decisions concerning Fair Use:

Copyright, 1923 to 1978

A review of the U. S. government's copyright laws, finds that there is a blank date range, 1945 to 1978 in the Copyright Public Records System, which covers 1898-1945 and 1978-Present. Works within this date range needed to have their copyright renewed, but most were not renewed.

Copyright renewals can be searched at the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database.

Stanford Copyright Renewal Database

Google's own Copyright Search page is also a good resource. To search official U.S. copyright registration records via Google's digitized project, use the Google Books Copyright Search to scan 91 volumes of the U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries for works registered between 1923 and 1978.

Google Copyright Search

Many books from 1923-1963 have come into the public domain because the copyright wasn't renewed. Many estimates say around 80-90 percent were not renewed. Also, U.S. government works, such as ICC Reports, are public domain from the start.

The Copyright Amendments Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-307), enacted on June 26, 1992, made changes to copyright renewal requirements. Under the prior 1909 and 1976 acts, works created between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977, required standard formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office during their 28th year to secure an additional 47-year renewal term. The 1992 amendment made renewal automatic for these works, removing the risk of works accidentally entering the public domain due to failure to file paperwork.

U. S. Copyright.gov

As of January 2026, works copyrighted in 1930 (and before) are in public domain. It's a moving target, gaining one year, every year. In the U.S., works published before 1930 are generally in the public domain as of 2025, because copyright lasts 95 years from publication. That means books, films, songs, and characters from 1929 and earlier can be freely copied, shared, and adapted. But keep in mind that trademarks and later editions may still be protected.

For works published before 1978, copyright lasts 95 years from publication if it was properly renewed. The 95-year rule means most works published in 1928 entered public domain in 2024, and 1929 works entered in 2025.

Lawyers

It all comes down to how much money do you want to spend. Lawyers are expensive. It will be expensive to defend your post-1978 copyright, accusing someone of copyright violation. And it will be expensive to defend your own widespread distribution of someone else's work with an assumed copyright, even if they never made an effort to register their post-1978 copyright.

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