The Mechanics of Copyright-JA
Copyright Term
US
At present in the United States, works that were created after 1978 are protected by copyright for a period of seventy years after the death of the author, except for works made for hire, which are protected for 120 years from creation, or 95 years from publication, whichever comes first.
Renewal Term
Pre-1978, under the 1909 Copyright Act, works were protected for an initial period of 28 years, and a "renewal term" of 28 years. The Copyright Act of 1976 extended the term, providing that works created prior to January 1, 1978 received an additional 19 years on the renewal term, bringing the total term of protection to 75 years. Works created after January 1, 1978 were protected for fifty years after the death of the author; works made for hire received a 75 year term. The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, passed in 1998, added another 20 years of protection (see above).
Termination
In order to protect the rights of authors, the Copyright Act of 1976 allows authors of pre-1978 works to terminate any grant of copyright (including assignment) made by the author or his heirs once the renewal term is expired and "recapture" the last 39 years of copyright (as extended by the Act). In other words, if you are the author (or certain heirs, in the case that the author dies) of a pre-1978 work, even if you irrevocably assigned the copyright in your work to someone else, you can terminate the assignment at the end of the original copyright renewal term (28 + 28 = 56) and exploit the work for your own benefit for the additional 39 years of protection granted by the 1976 Act. Of course, termination is complicated, and the assignee must be notified within statutorily prescribed times (not more than 10 years and not less than 2 years before expiration of the renewal term). If you miss this window, you may try again to terminate at the end of 75 years to recapture the last 20 years.
Additionally, post-1978 works also have a five year termination window beginning 35 years after the grant of copyright, in the case where the grant was made by the author (and not his heirs). Similar notification provisions apply (see above).
An Additional Wrinkle
If the author of a pre-1978 work dies before the renewal term, her heirs have the rights to the renewal term, even if the author has assigned or willed the copyright to someone else! In other words, if an author of a pre-1978 work assigns the copyright to a publisher in the initial 28 year term, and then dies before the expiration of the initial 28 year term, his heirs have the rights to the remaining 67 years. This applies also to derivative works - if, say, a motion picture is made (with permission from the author) based on a pre-1978 novel, and the author dies before the 28th year of the initial term, and his heirs do not wish to permit continued exploitation of the work in the derivative work, they may prevent it. If, however, the author dies in the 30th year (e.g. the second year of the 28 year renewal term), then the outcome is different.
Jamaica
In Jamaica, most works are protected for a period of fifty years after the death of the author (or, in the case of joint authors, the death of the last known author). If the author is unknown, a work is protected for fifty years from the date it was first made available to the public. However, three types of works receive different periods of protection: computer generated works receive protection for a period of fifty years from creation, and sound recordings and films receive fifty years from the year that it was made, or published (whichever comes first). See Media:JACopyrightAct.pdf Copyright Act, section 10.
Copyright Registration
In order to obtain copyright registration in the United States, a copyright owner must fill out a form, pay a small fee, and deposit two copies of the work with the Library of Congress. Registration is not required; however, in order to bring a copyright infringement suit, the work MUST be registered.
At present, Jamaica does not have a registration system; however, JIPO is testing a voluntary registration system that would, for a small fee, register a work by completing two forms and submitting a digital copy of the work. The copyright owner would then receive a Certificate of Registration. See article Media:JARegArticle.pdf
Additional Reading
WIPO Article on Termination in the US Another article on Copyright Termination in the US