How long is a copyright good for? A work is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.

This law was updated last year, Prior to last year an unpublished work was protected for 50 years. That is why 59 rare Beatles tracks were published on December 17, 2013. The copyrights were about to expire. Now that the songs have been published, they are protected for another 70 years.