A renewal registration made after the 28th year will not confer the benefits mentioned above but will confer other benefits denied to unregistered works.  For example, renewal registration establishes a public record of copyright ownership in a work at the time that the renewal was registered.  The courts have discretion to determine the evidentiary weight accorded a certificate of renewal registration when registration is made after the 28th year of the copyright term.  Renewal registration is a prerequisite to statutory damages and attorney’s fees for published works not registered for the original term.

In cases where no original registration or renewal registration is made before the expiration of the 28th year, important benefits can still be secured by filing a renewal registration at any time during the renewal term.  These benefits would include, for example, statutory damages and attorney’s fees in any infringement suit for infringements occurring after the renewal registration is made.  Also, it is a requirement to get into court in certain circumstances under section 411 (a), and it creates a public record both to defend against innocent infringers and to facilitate easier licensing of the work.

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RENEWAL FILING PERIOD
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For works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31,1977, an application for renewal of copyright can be made: 

+ within the last (28th) calendar year of the original term of copyright
  or
+ at any time during the renewed and extended term of 67 years.

To determine the filing period for renewal during the original term: 

1.  First, determine the date of original copyright for the work. (In the case of works originally registered in unpublished form, copyright began on the date of registration; for published works, copyright began on the date of first publication with copyright notice.)

2.  Then add 28 years to the year the work was originally copyrighted.

This will determine the calendar year during which the copyright becomes eligible for renewal with a renewal filing during the original term due by December 31 of that year.  An exception to this rule exists when the copyright notice in the work contains a year date earlier than the year date of first publication.  In this case, the renewal filing period is computed from the year date in the copyright notice.  For example, a work published January 20, 1975, contains a copyright notice reading “Copyright 1974 by Anderson Homes.”  Compute the 28-year original term from the year 1974.

To renew a copyright during the original copyright term, the renewal application and fee must be received in the Copyright Office during the 28th year of the original term of copyright.  All terms of original copyright run through the end of the 28th calendar year making the period for renewal registration in the original term from December 31 of the 27th year of the copyright through December 31 of the following year.