CG76723 - Wasting assets: copyright

TCGA92/S44

The copyright in any work runs for a specified period. Currently, it runs for 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which

• the author, etc, dies

or

• the work is first published or produced.

Thus, if copyright is acquired by a person 20 years or more after the end of the year in which the author died, it is then a wasting asset.

Before extension to 70 years copyright ran for 50 years and was a wasting asset from the end of the year in which the author died or the work was first published or produced.

CG68250 tells you more about copyright.