Re: Wrong Year in Notice

I want to thank all who supplied answers to my original question about the effects of incorrect years in notices. As Terry Carroll pointed out, it's most likely that the publisher in question is being sloppy.

To clarify some of the points that respondents have been bringing up:

• The publisher puts a notice on each page (a page holds the psalm for one week).
• The text is unchanged in its three-year cycle. The publisher correctly acknowledges the permission from the International Committee on English in the Liturgy.
• The music is original with the publisher (who is also the composer). It is usually unchanged from the edition three years previous. Sometimes the choral or accompaniment arrangement will be slightly altered, but my understanding is that musical arrangements are generally not copyrightable. Very rarely will the melody be altered, though it would still be recognizable.
• Almost all the reprints I have are post-Berne. I don't know if any editions printed pre-Berne also bear incorrect notices. That seems to be the interesting question.

So, (again) as Terry Carroll points out the issue is largely academic unless it can be shown:

1. that editions (re)printed pre-Berne bear incorrect notices, or
2. that the publisher has use the wrong year with fraudulent intent.

Number 2 would be pretty nigh impossible to demonstrate, I'd think. Number 1 will require examination of the editions for the years 1982-1988. Since these are throw-away editions, it's unlikely that I'd find any around.

My reason for inquiring was that I intend to bring the matter to the attention of the publisher, and was wondering just what the effects of the incorrect notice were, so that I'd have a better chance of sounding semi-intelligent (or at least semi-informed). This publisher has tried to make its customers more aware of copyrights in the past, and I found its sloppiness in this regard amusing.

Many thanks, again.

• Patrick A. O'Donnell pao[_at_]ascent.com