Supreme Court ruled that Congress could release works from the public domain to submit them again to the protection of copyright, without violating the Constitution. Singapore Pursuant to Section 197 of the Copyright Act, unpublished governmental literary, dramatic and musical works are under perpetual copyright, but once published, they are copyrighted for 70 years following publication. Portugal Portugal recognised copyright as perpetual from 1851 to 1867 and from 1927 to 1966. Former Soviet Union In the former Soviet Union, under the 1961 Fundamentals, copyrights held by legal entities such as companies were defined to be perpetual; if a company was reorganized, its legal successor entity took over the copyrights, and if a company ceased to exist, the copyrights passed to the state. See also Orphan works References Philosophy of law Copyright term Hypothetical laws