Re: Re: Help settling a copyright question

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003, Joseph Pietro Riolo wrote:

> Another thing to consider is the status of publication. If the
> author did publish his article without registering it with the
> Copyright Office, his article is in the public domain and the
> renewal does not cover it.

Registration of the original term was not required under the 1909 Act; only registering the renewal. Copyright subsisted upon publication with notice, with or without renewal.

Renewal was available as an alternate means of obtaining copyright, generally for one-off works of art; but generally, publication with notice was the route to copyright.

-- 
Terry Carroll        |   "I say to you that the VCR is to the American
Santa Clara, CA      |   film producer and the American public as the 
carroll[_at_]tjc.com      |   Boston strangler is to the woman home alone."  
                     |       Jack Valenti, MPAA President
Modell delendus est  |       Testimony before Congress, 1982