Omission Of Notice
“Omission of notice” is publishing without
a notice. In addition, some
errors are considered the same as omission of notice.
These are:
+ A notice that does not contain the (the
letter C in a circle
symbol), or the word “Copyright”
or the abbreviation “Copr.” or, if
the work is a sound recording,
the symbol P (the letter P in a
circle);
+ A notice dated more than 1 year later
than the date of first
publication;
+ A notice without a name or date that
could reasonably be considered
part of the notice;
+ A notice that lacks the statement required
for works consisting
preponderantly of U.S.
Government material; and
+ A notice located so that it does not
give reasonable notice of the
claim of copyright.
The omission of notice does not affect the copyright protection, and no corrective steps are required if the work was published on or after March 1, 1989. For works published between January 1, 1978, but before March 1, 1989, no corrective steps are required if:
1. The notice is omitted from no more than a
relatively small number of
copies or phonorecords distributed
to the public; or
2. The omission violated an express written requirement
that the
published copies or phonorecords
bear the prescribed notice.
In all other cases of omission in works published before March 1, 1989, to preserve copyright:
1. The work must have been registered before
it was published in any
form or before the omission occurred,
or it must have been registered
within 5 years after the date of
publication without notice; and
2. The copyright owner must have made a reasonable
effort to add the
notice to all copies or phonorecords
that were distributed to the
public in the United States after
the omission was discovered. If
these corrective steps were not
taken, the work went into the public
domain in the United States 5 years
after publication. At that time
all U.S. copyright protection was
lost and cannot be restored.
Error in Year
If the copyright duration depends on the date of first publication and the year given in the notice is earlier than the actual publication date, protection may be shortened by beginning the term on the date in the notice. (For later date in the notice, see “Omission of Notice.”)
Example: A work made for hire is created in 1983 and is first published in 1988. However, the notice contains the earlier year of 1987. In this case, the term of copyright protection would be measured from the year in the notice, and the expiration date would be 2082, 95 years from 1987.
Error in Name
When the person named in the notice is not the owner of copyright, the error may be corrected by: