The "Lex Johann Strauß"

At the turn of the century copyright protection for music was only effective for 30 years. Adele Strauß tried to prolong this period from 30 to 50 years, which means that royalties would have to be paid up to 50 years after a composer’s death. What she actually managed to do was to prolong that period to 32 years, which was a boon for later composers resp. their children. In 1931 Strauߒ music was free for adaptions on the music market. This started the rise of Strauß as provider of radio, film, record and CD music.
Today copyright protection has been extended to 70 years.