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Works that had copyright protection after a period of time enter the public domain, where copyright no longer applies, and permission is not needed to use these works. Individual copyrights now last for the life of the author plus 70 years. Copyrights owned by corporations last for 95 years before entering the public domain. However, just because the author or artist passed away many years ago doesn't automatically mean that his or her work is in the public domain. It may still be owned by a publisher, gallery, or the artist's estate. Finally, some works are not subject to copyright protection (e.g. works by the U.S. Government)
The US Copyright Office can conduct a search (for a fee) if you don’t know the owner of the work in question.
Remember that government works are not eligible for copyright protection. For more information on the public domain see: The Center for the Public Domain and Lolly Gasaway's "When U.S. Works Pass into the Public Domain"