Copyright Notice Provisions of Copyright Act of 1976,
17 U.S.C. §§ 401, 402
17 U.S.C. § 401. Notice of copyright: Visually perceptible copies
(a) General provisions. Whenever a work protected under this
title is published in the United States or elsewhere by authority of the
copyright owner, a notice of copyright as provided by this section may
be placed on publicly distributed copies from which the work can be visually
perceived, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. (Emphasis
added.)
(b) Form of notice. If a notice appears on the copies, it
shall consist of the following three elements (Emphasis added.):
(1) the symbol © (the letter C in a circle), or the word "Copyright",
or the abbreviation "Copr.:"; and
(2) the year of first publication of the work; in the case of
compilations or derivative works incorporating previously published
material, the year date of first publication of the compilation or derivative
work is sufficient. The year date may be omitted where a pictorial,
graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying text matter, if any,
is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry,
dolls, toys, or any useful articles; and
(3) the name of the owner of copyright in the work, or an abbreviation
by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative
designation of the owner.
(c) Position of notice. The notice shall be affixed to the
copies in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the
claim of copyright. The Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by
regulation, as examples, specific methods of affixation and positions
of the notice on various types of works that will satisfy this requirement,
but these specifications shall not be considered exhaustive.
(d) Evidentiary weight of notice. If a notice of copyright
in the form and position specified by this section appears on the published
copy or copies to which a defendant in a copyright infringement suit had
access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant's interposition
of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or
statutory damages, except as provided in the last sentence of section
504(c)(2).
17 U.S.C. § 402. Notice of copyright: Phonorecords of sound recordings
(a) General provisions. Whenever a sound recording protected
under this title is published in the United States or elsewhere by authority
of the copyright owner, a notice of copyright as provided by this section
may be placed on publicly distributed phonorecords of the sound
recording. (Emphasis added.)
(b) Form of notice. If a notice appears on the phonorecords,
it shall consist of the following three elements (Emphasis added.):
(1) the symbol (the letter P in a circle); and
(2) the year of first publication of the sound recording; and
(3) the name of the owner of copyright in the sound recording,
or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally
known alternative designation of the owner; if the producer of the sound
recording is named on the phonorecord labels or containers, and if no
other name appears in conjunction with the notice, the producer's name
shall be considered a part of the notice.
(c) Position of notice. The notice shall be placed on the
surface of the phonorecord, or on the phonorecord label or container,
in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the claim
of copyright.
(d) Evidentiary weight of notice. If a notice of copyright
in the form and position specified by this section appears on the published
phonorecord or phonorecords to which a defendant in a copyright infringement
suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant's interposition
of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or
statutory damages, except as provided in the last sentence of section
504(c)(2).
Professor's note: Effective March 1, 1989, the Berne Convention Implementation
Act, inter alia, replaced the word "shall" in Sections 401(a) and
401(a) with word "may," as emphasized above. By this Act, the United
States finally acceded to the Berne Convention, which had been the primary
basis of international copyright relations for over a century.
This change made the use of copyright notice optional for the first time
in the United States' copyright history, in accordance with the Berne Convention's
prohibition against copyright "formalities." Although copyright notice
is now optional, the law required it on published copies and phonorecords
before March 1, 1989, and virtually all publishers still use it, both for
traditional and practical reasons and to invoke the minor advantages of
Sections 401(d) and 402(d).
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