Here we go again (another law suit)

[Beutlin]

Question for V: I recently visited my relatives in another part of the country and had a chat with my uncle-in-law who is a lawyer specializing in copyright law. I briefly asked him about the copyright length of posthumously published works (such as “The Silmarillion”) and he told me that in most countries the copyright of such works ends 50 years after publication.

a.) Does this mean that stories of the Silmarillion could be turned into films after 2027?
b.) Or would the copyright still extend to 2043, seventy years after JRR’s passing?
c.) Or, due to Christopher’s heavy editing of the “Silmarillion”, is he classified as a co-author and therefore must be taken into account, thereby extending the copyright to somewhere after 2087?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My best guess would be C.

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[Primula Baggins]

Copyrights can also be renewed by a writer's heirs. My 50th anniversary copy of LotR indicates that Christopher renewed the copyright in the early 1980s. Of course, that's the U.S. copyright.