The Peter Pan Bequest
Under UK law, copyrights will expire 50 years after author's death, but It's very interesting in one special case that all copyrights on Scottish author J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan will never expire after his death in 1937.
J. M. Barrie made his bequest in 1929, eight years before his death. He had been asked to give a series of fundraising lectures in support of the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, which was founded in 1852. But, being too shy to speak, he donated the royalties from Peter Pan instead.
In 1987, fifty years after Barrie's death, copyright expired under UK law. However, the following year a unique Act of Parliament restored royalty income from all versions of Peter Pan to the Hospital, which means that the very sick children there will continue to benefit from J. M. Barrie's generous gift for as long as the hospital exists.
But under EU law, which restricts the rights of authors to 70 years after their death, European copyrights for Peter Pan expired on December 31, 2007, meaning the classic story and its characters entered the public domain. So only small sums from British royalties will continue to accrue, thanks to special legislation drawn up in 1987.
This is bad news for Britain's Great Ormond Street children's hospital, which has held the rights for decades and depends on the revenues it generates. Barrie bequeathed all rights to "Peter Pan" to the hospital in 1929. However, with the 70th year after Barrie's death coming to an end, the copyright is set to expire and the institution faces the loss of a major source of income.