Does an author retain copyright of a work they have deleted?
<p>My photographer's standard contract asserts ownership of all the images she creates, and allows me to create prints for personal use. But she also says she will delete all images 3 months after supplying them to me electronically. I will hold the only copies. Does she still own them even though she chose to discard them?</p>

<p>She would still own copyright, yes.</p>

<p>See 17 USC 302(a):</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Copyright in a work created on or after January 1, 1978, subsists from its creation and, except as provided by the following subsections, endures for a term consisting of the life of the author and 70 years after the author’s death.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Nothing in the following subsections cuts short the duration of copyright upon destruction of an original.</p>

copyright