Copyright Renewal of U.S. Books Published in 1932: Re-analyzing Ringer's Study to Determine a More Accurate Renewal Rate for Books

Abstract

In 1961, Barbara Ringer published "Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright," where she determined the renewal rate for fiscal year 1932 U.S. publications. In that study, she concludes that the renewal rate for Class A works for FY1932 was 7 percent. This paper seeks to reassess Ringer's study by analyzing the copyright registrations for 1932 and their renewals published in the Catalogue of Copyright Entries. This was done to determine a renewal rate specifically for books rather than Class A as a whole, which includes other materials. The analysis determines that the copyright renewal rate for books is actually 26 to 33 percent, significantly higher than 7 percent claimed by Ringer.

A White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books

“…Very few rightsholders filed for renewal. 157 Finally, a most conservative library might focus just on books in their last 20 years of copyright protection-books published before 1943-for which the library is willing to do a reasonable investigation to determine if the book is still commercially available. When Congress extended copyright protection by 20 years in the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, it granted libraries special rights to use works in that extended term under Section 108(h).…”