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[Vollstrecker]

Btw. What happens if the copyright expires, some people start using it, and after that the period get extended? Have they to stop using, or is it still pd because it was used, or are they getting sued becuase it was never pd?

[Stu Redman]

Current law always applies. In 1980 you could perfectly legally buy a switchblade in Germany, but if you still own it, it's a criminal offense now. Even if you never heard they were outlawed.
You won't be sued for using the pic while it was in PD (same as with the switchblade  ), but if you use it a day longer, you're toast.
BtW: if you sell a bundle of old game magazines nowadays and there are still CDs in them you're also toast, because there sure is a CloneCD on one of them which is illegal now. Brave new world. 

[lfroen]

because there sure is a CloneCD on one of them which is illegal now

CloneCD is illegal under what law? AFAIK it's only made-in-USA DMCA introduce such creature as illegal software.

[Stu Redman]

In Germany it's been illegal for several years to bypass a copy protection (software, Audio-CD, DVD)  or to sell a software able to do this. Or to even publish a link to a foreign company's site selling such software. There has been a lawsuite against German computer magazine c't, and c't lost. 
It's still legal to sell DVD-Rom drives which don't fail on copy-protected audio cds, but the feature may not be advertised.