On 8/4/07, Gwern Branwen gwern0@gmail.com wrote:
As for the pre-1964 stuff: precisely what notable material wasn't renewed?
Large quantities of stuff was not renewed. Specialist and trade publications, brochures, catalogs, and much, much more. The lists of copyright renewals, which you can find for certain years online, are in fact rather short. You'll probably find, in fact, some quite well known works indeed were not renewed. Some movies, for instance, were not renewed and passed into the public domain; many others did not simply because the underlying book upon which they were based was renewed.
-Matt