User talk:Piotrus/KoreaCopyright
I'll try to explain it to the best of my knowledge...
- The 1957 law was 30 pma. For a photograph inserted in a work of literature or science, and which was produced or ordered to be made especially for such work, the term was the same -- 30 pma. For other photographs, it was 10 years from publication.
- The non-retroactive 1987 law made everything 50pma.
- The non-retroactive 2013 law made everything 70pma.
So... for a non-photograph work, the 1987 law change froze expirations for 20 years. Thus, for a long time, works by authors who died 1957 or later remained under copyright. However, that was 50pma -- so, in 2008, works for authors who died in 1957 expired. In 2009, works by authors who died in 1958 expired. In 2013, works by authors who died in 1962 expired. But then in 2013, the term was extended again, so once more expirations are frozen for 20 years -- but for authors who died before 1963, their works remain public domain. In South Korea itself, the old 30pma term has no relevance anymore, since it has been subsumed by the 50pma term and the transitional period is over. The 50pma term has relevance because they are still in the transitional period to 70pma. So, that is why the 1963 date matters in South Korea itself. However... if you are also trying to deal with the URAA (i.e. the copyright status inside the United States), then the old 30pma term still matters, since the URAA date was in that first transitional period. In 1996, it was only works by authors who died before 1957 whose work was in the PD in South Korea. Authors who died later thus had their U.S. copyright restored, provided the work was first published 1923 or later, and was not also published (within 30 says) in the United States. So, 1963 is the date for "public domain in the country of origin", and 1957 is the date for "public domain in the U.S." in regards to the URAA (subject to the 1923 line etc.). A work published in 1922 where the author died in 1960 would be public domain in both countries.
As for photographs (other than those scholastic or literary ones), the term was 10 years from publication until 1987. Thus, photographs published before 1977 had expired on January 1, 1987, and have remained public domain ever since. Photos published 1977 and later had a 50pma term, and since that term could not have expired before 2013 (given the author was presumably alive in 1977), they are also now all 70pma. Since the situation in 1996 was therefore the same as now, the 1977 date for photographs is the same for "public domain in South Korea" and "public domain in the United States". (Unless it had also complied with U.S. copyright formalities like copyright notice; a photo published in 1972 with a copyright notice would still be protected in the United States.)
So, if the focus is on both South Korea and the URAA, the 1957 date is more correct -- but for works published before 1923, you can go up to 1963. For photographs, the status is the same for the two countries (provided no copyright notice), and would be based on the 1977 date.
For North Korea, I haven't looked, but usually when joining the Berne Convention the law should retroactively restore existing works. But they may have neglected to put that part in, meaning it's possible that works before then remain PD in North Korea (which would then affect the URAA status as well). Berne doesn't force a country to restore copyright to works from the country of origin, but would require works or foreigners to be restored. Usually those are in transitional status clauses towards the end of the law, and there are also usually provisions for people who had been using works legally before the law change -- giving them rights to continue, or a limited time they could continue, or an automatic payment, etc. I'm guessing that law was more for show than actual use in practice, though, so who knows.
Hope this helps. Carl Lindberg (talk) 16:10, 17 July 2016 (UTC)