State and common law have granted perpetual copyright in certain special cases not covered by federal copyright law. Sound recordings made before 1972 are under the jurisdiction of state copyright laws which provide perpetual protection. Prior to 1 January 1978, when the Copyright Act of 1976 came into effect, unpublished works were protected by common law, which recognized perpetual copyright in these works for as long as they remained unpublished. The 1976 Copyright Act exerted federal jurisdiction over unpublished works for the first time and all copyrights in these works were assigned a fixed term even if they remain unpublished.