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The 70-year rule

The 70-year rule

According to Danish copyright law, the copyrights to a work in Denmark lasts until 70 years after the year of death of the rightful owner. When the term of protection has expired, no one will any longer have exclusive rights to the work, and anyone can reproduce, disseminate, and display copies of the work, and make it public. This is commonly known as the work now belongs to the “public domain”.

However, as there can be multiple rightful owners to a work - i.e. joint ownership - there are certain special codes of practice to which one should pay attention depending on which media one wants to use:

Film

There are often multiple copyright owners to a film. The copyright to cinematographic works lasts until 70 years after the year of death of the last of the following persons:

  •     The principal director
  •     The scriptwriter
  •     The dialogue writer
  •     The composer of music specifically created for use in the film

Music

If you can extract the individuals’ contribution to a piece of music, as independent works - e.g. a song of which the lyrics can be isolated as a literary work, while the melody is a musical work – then every contribution has its own 70-year protection period.

In case of a musical work with lyrics, where both text and music is produced specifically for that particular purpose, the copyrights to the work lasts until 70 years after the year of death of the last of the following persons:

  • The lyricist
  • The composer

Occasionally, you are dealing with an adaptation of a musical work - e.g. a remake of a previously recorded song. In this case, the copyright to adapted works expires 70 years after the year of death of the adapter.

Works without an "owner"

When a work is published without specification of author, generally known pseudonym, or mark, the copyright lasts until 70 years after the end of the year of publication.

Foreign works

Danish copyright law does not overrule copyright protection of foreign works with a protection period of less than 70 years.

If you want to use a work where the copyright has expired

NOTICE! It is forbidden to affix an artist's name, or a label, on a work of art, without the consent of the artist. This holds regardless of whether the artwork’s copyright has expired or not.

According to the Danish Marketing Practices Act, it may be illegal to use works whose copyright protection has expired. It may be contrary to the marketing practices act to reprint the type of the work without permission from the original publisher.

In case of doubt, you may contact the Committee for the Protection of Academic Work (UBVA), who advises on copyright and patent law issues in the interest of academics.