I thought they were emphasizing the fact that, under the previous scheme, authors had to do something to renew copyright, which meant that unexploited works automatically lapsed into the public domain. Under the current law, even works whose authors do not care remain under copyright.<p>Previously, the default state was public domain. Now, the default state is copyright. This means that for a huge majority of works, their remaining under copyright benefits neither the uninterested rightsholder, nor the public who are now prohibited from reusing the work.