What is copyright?
According to the Copyright Act, copyright is the right that arises for an author who has created works in the fields of literature, art, or science.
In Estonia, copyright protection lasts for the entire lifetime of the author and for an additional 70 years after their death. In the case of joint authorship (when a work has multiple authors), the 70-year period begins after the death of the last surviving co-author. The term is calculated from 1 January of the year following the author’s year of death.
Once the copyright protection period has expired, anyone interested may use the work freely. However, when using a public domain work, one must still adhere to the rules protecting authorship, the author’s name, honour and reputation, and the title of the work. This means that even for works in the public domain, the title and author must be properly credited.
Source: Estonian Authors’ Society
