In the case of works published before 1978, copyright registration is made in the name of the individual person or the entity identified as the copyright owner in the notice.  For works published on or after January 1, 1978, registration is made in the name of the person or entity owning all the rights on the date the registration is made.  This may or may not be the name appearing in the notice.  In addition to its records of copyright registration, the Copyright Office maintains extensive records of assignments, exclusive licenses, and other documents dealing with copyright ownership.

AD INTERIM

Ad interim copyright was a special short-term copyright that applied to certain books and periodicals in the English language that were first manufactured and published outside the United States.  It was a partial exception to the manufacturing requirements of the previous U.S. copyright law.  Its purpose was to secure temporary U.S. protection for a work, pending the manufacture of an edition in the United States.  The ad interim requirements changed several times over the years and were subject to a number of exceptions and qualifications.

The manufacturing provisions of the copyright act expired on July 1, 1986, and are no longer a part of the copyright law.  The transitional and supplementary provisions of the act provide that for any work in which ad interim copyright was subsisting or capable of being secured on December 31, 1977, copyright protection would be extended for a term compatible with the other works in which copyright was subsisting on the effective date of the new act.  Consequently, if the work was first published on or after July 1, 1977, and was eligible for ad interim copyright protection, the provisions of the present copyright act will be applicable to the protection of these works.  Anyone investigating the copyright status of an English-language book or periodical first published outside the United States before July 1, 1977, should check carefully to determine: 

+ Whether the manufacturing requirements were applicable to the work;
  and
+ If so, whether the ad interim requirements were met.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Information via the Internet:  Frequently requested circulars, announcements, regulations, other related materials, and all copyright application forms are available via the Internet.  You may access these via the Copyright Office homepage at www.loc.gov/copyright.

Information by fax:  Circulars and other information (but not application forms) are available by Fax-on-Demand at (202)707-2600.

Information by telephone:  For general information about copyright, call the Copyright Public Information Office at (202)707-3000.  The TTY number is (202)707-6737.  Information specialists are on duty from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., eastern time, Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.  Recorded information is available 24 hours a day.  Or, if you know which application forms and circulars you want, request them from the Forms and Publications Hotline at (202)707-9100 24 hours a day.  Leave a recorded message.