In 1988, Michael Barson, who worked in the United States Copyright Office at the Library of Congress discovered that the scripts for Flywheel had been submitted to the Office, where they had been placed in storage. Nobody was aware that they still existed and their copyrights had not been renewed. Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel has fallen into the public domain.
Barson, Michael, ed (1988). Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel: The Marx Brothers' Lost Radio Show. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-679-72036-7.
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (70 years p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 years p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 years p.m.a.), Mexico (100 years p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 years p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
This sound recording was first fixed prior to February 15, 1972. Under Title II (Classics Protection and Access) of the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, which was signed into law on October 11, 2018, sound recordings that were first fixed prior to February 15, 1972 are protected from unauthorized use in the United States as follows:
Recordings that were first published prior to 1924 are in the public domain.
Recordings that were first published between 1924 and 1946 are copyrighted for a period of 100 years after first publication.
Recordings that were first published between 1947 and 1956 are copyrighted for a period of 110 years after first publication.
Recordings that were published after 1956 and first fixed prior to February 15, 1972 will enter the public domain on February 15, 2067.
Note that sound recordings that were first fixed prior to February 15, 1972 are a special case under US copyright law and are not subject to the same formalities as other works. In particular, the terms of protection given above for pre-1972 recordings apply regardless of whether a recording was published with a copyright notice, or whether a recording was registered with the US Copyright Office, or whether a recording's rights were renewed.
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