[Hurricane Andrew]

If I may quote from www.bitlaw.com/copyright/duration.html

Works Originally Created and Published or Registered Before January 1, 1978: This is governed by statutory section 17 USC 304. Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the date a work was published or on the date of registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either case, the copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for a second renewal term of an additional 28 years. If no application was filed for renewal, the work would enter the public domain after the initial 28 year term.

I don't believe that Kerry or VVAW filed for an extension of that term. Since the book was first published in 1971, the 28 year expiry would be 1999, so we are outside of that time frame.

Then again, I'm not a lawyer, though I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once...

[Bryan24]

I wonder if Kerry filed for a renewal?

Just didn't want a repeat of the Washington Post copyright fiasco.

[HamiltonJay]

I don't know if the Copyright is expired then the publisher could reprint WITHOUT Kerry's permission, so I would be a bit dubious in assuming the work is no longer covered by copyright law.

[kevkrom]

More digging at the Copyright office's website... and it looks like bad news:

Works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977, are affected by the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, which automatically extends the copyright term and makes renewal registrations optional. [emphasis mine]

However, this is still a bit confusing, because I can't tell if the automatic extension requires the printing of an edition with the extended copyright so indicated. I.e., whether the copyright holder would still need to take some kind of action prior to the expiration of the initial copyright.

Any legally-minded FReepers can take a look at USC 17, Chapter 3 ("Duration of Copyright") to make their own determination.