Copyright does expire. There are a great many assets that have ended up in the public domain that were created after 1923. So there is some chance that the above hypothetical is, in fact, public domain. If so, no piracy.

Here's an explanation for the US.  Interesting , but it may give you a headache... ;) http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ15a.pdf

Additionally, Audio recordings prior to 1972 are covered under state law, which are perpetual copyrights in most cases.

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