This all makes sense. You could only renew the copyright once under the law (The law makes no reference that I know of extending at the end of the second term). So in 1978 when the new law took over anything copyrighted in 1923 and renewed (28 + 28 = 56 years.
1923 + 56 years = 1978) was still copyrighted and eligible for protection under the new law.
The copyright of anything published before 1923 had expired and thus would not come under the new copyright law and is in the pubic domain.
In a message dated 6/10/2004 4:36:00 AM Eastern Standard Time, cameratraveler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Regarding the photo in the Gallery this week that started this thread,
if I'm reading correctly, copyright had to be renewed every 28 years
prior to 1978. Failure to renew resulted in expiration of copyright.
I'm not sure if this was the law in effect at the time the Gallery
photo was made. I would find it hard to believe that a photograph made
by a portrait studio 100 years ago would have had its copyright
extended every 28 years, or that the picture was even registered in the
first place.
From the US Copyright Office:
"Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on
the date a work was published or on the date of registration if
the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the
copyright lasted for a first term of 28 years from the date it was
secured. The copyright was eligible for renewal during the last
(28th) year of the first term. If renewed, the copyright was
