Mis use of video copyrights

The term of copyright depends on several things, such as when it was created, the creator's date of death, whether it has been published, and the date of first publication. For your works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for your life plus an additional 70 years. If the work is anonymous, the term is the shorter of 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation. 

The question is not on term ofhe copyright. The question is can the video copyright holder continue to exploit the copyright sof sattelite television broadcast in view of continious usage from 20 years , just by virtue of nobaody over the years has claimed the said copyright