cni-copyright@cni.org

From: Paul Robinson <PAUL[_at_]TDR.COM>
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA

There have been questions regarding the wording in section 406b where it states that for works published before Berne, copyright notices are not valid if the year is post dated by more than one year.

What I think is being said is that works published before ascention to Berne are still subject to pre-Berne rules, e.g. notices must appear on virtually all copies, notice must not be post-dated, etc.

What the legislators probably wanted to say was that Berne is not retroactive and is not applicable for works published before its ascension. The question is whether the law is explicit enough to indicate this, and whether the courts agree with that line of reasoning.

It would create an interesting test case if someone wanted to issue some pre-Berne work of little consequence if copyright was lost, and publish it without notice, then wait to sue someone over reprints to see whether Berne is applicable to pre-ascention works.

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Paul Robinson - Paul[_at_]TDR.COM
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Voted "Largest Polluter of the (IETF) list" by Randy Bush <randy[_at_]psg.com>


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