Re: Copyright Date

I do not believe that a wrong notice, as well as not having a notice has any effect anymore (since the BCIA - 3/1/89) on whether or not the work is protected by copyright. There is frankly no way that such could operate to eject the work into the public domain anymore. Copyright protection is now automatic (in the US),

    Sec. 104. Subject matter of copyright: National origin       (a) Unpublished Works. - The works specified by sections 102 and     103, while unpublished, are subject to protection under this title     without regard to the nationality or domicile of the author.       (b) Published Works. - The works specified by sections 102 and     103, when published, are subject to protection under this title if

        (1) on the date of first publication, one or more of the
      authors is a national or domiciliary of the United States, or is
      a national, domiciliary, or sovereign authority of a foreign
      nation that is a party to a copyright treaty to which the United
      States is also a party, or is a stateless person, wherever that
      person may be domiciled; or
        (2) the work is first published in the United States or in a
      foreign nation that, on the date of first publication, is a party
      to the Universal Copyright Convention; or
        (3) the work is first published by the United Nations or any of
      its specialized agencies, or by the Organization of American
      States; or
        (4) the work is a Berne Convention work; or
        (5) the work comes within the scope of a Presidential
      proclamation....

  Sec. 406. Notice of Copyright: Error in name or date...     (2)(b) When the year date in the notice on copies or phonrecords

        distributed before the effective date of the Berne Convention
        Implementation Act of 1988 by authority of the copyright
        owner is earlier then the year in which publication first
        than the year in which publication first occurred,
        the work is considered to have been published without
        any notice and is governed by the provisions of section 405.

And of course 405 only ejects into the public domain those works created before the BCIA became effective (3/1/89) if not properly marked.

Thus, 1) 406 only applies to pre-Berne works, and

       2) 405 only ejects pre-Berne works into the public domain
          if not properly marked.

And thus, failure to properly mark is no longer fatal to copyrights.

Bruce E. Hayden                 1720 South Bellaire Street
bhayden[_at_]csn.org                   1100 Colorado Tower Bldg.
(303) 758-8400                      Denver, Colorado 80222