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 copyright interest is inherently and unavoidably conditional: it is subject to future revocation by the author or the other persons named in the statute, notwithstanding the author’s stated desires or the provisions of the original grant.

Another part of the statute, § 304(c), governs the termination of transfers made before January 1, 1978. Many of the provisions mirror those of § 203: the same individuals (living authors or a list of statutory successors) hold termination rights, and the same provisions for written notice apply. There is, once again, a five-year window during which termination may occur, but it comes into being at a different time, measured not from the date of the original transfer, but from the date copyright in the underlying work attached. Again, the statute forbids parties to contract around the termination rules.

The termination provisions were intended to compensate for unequal bargaining power as between authors and publishers who, Congress