When is a copyrighted work published

What is a deposit? A deposit is usually one copy if unpublished or two copies if published of the work to be registered for copyright. In certain cases such as works of the visual arts, identifying material such as a photograph may be used instead.

The deposit is sent with the application and fee and becomes the property of the Library of Congress. What is publication? Publication has a technical meaning in copyright law. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display constitutes publication.

A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication. How do I put a copyright notice on my work?

While use of a copyright notice was once required as a condition of copyright protection, it is now optional. Use of the notice is the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office. Renewal searches can be conducted at the Copyright Office in Washington D.

With one important exception, you should assume that every work is protected by copyright unless you can establish that it is not. And even for works published before , the absence of a copyright notice may not affect the validity of the copyright — for example, if the author made diligent attempts to correct the situation.

For example, scholars must be free to quote from their research resources in order to comment on the material. The fair use statute requires the courts to consider the following questions in deciding this issue:.

Whether a work is published or unpublished still matters for certain reasons. For example: works that are published in the United States are subject to mandatory deposit in the Library of Congress; unpublished works are eligible for protection without regard to the nationality or where the author lives; certain limitations on the rights of a copyright owner are applicable only to published works; and the duration of protection for works made for hire may be determined by the date of publication.

Is it in the Public Domain? Treat unpublished works registered for copyright prior to as if they had been published in the US though note that the only formality that applied was the requirement to renew copyright after 28 years. Unpublished works registered for copyright since can be considered as if they were an "Unpublished, Unregistered Work. Unpublished works when the death date of the author is not known may still be copyrighted after years, but certification from the Copyright Office that it has no record to indicate whether the person is living or died less than 70 years before is a complete defense to any action for infringement.

See 17 U. Presumption as to the author's death requires a certified report from the Copyright Office that its records disclose nothing to indicate that the author of the work is living or died less than seventy years before. Not all published works are copyrighted.

Works prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties receive no copyright protection in the US. For much of the twentieth century, certain formalities had to be followed to secure copyright protection.

For example, some books had to be printed in the United States to receive copyright protection, and failure to deposit copies of works with the Register of Copyright could result in the loss of copyright. The requirements that copies include a formal notice of copyright and that the copyright be renewed after twenty eight years were the most common conditions, and are specified in the chart.

See Barbara Ringer, "Study No. Washington: U. Off, , p. A good guide to investigating the copyright and renewal status of published work is Samuel Demas and Jennie L.

Circular Berkeley: Nolo. It applies to works first published abroad and not subsequently published in the US within 30 days of the original foreign publication. Works that were simultaneously published abroad and in the US are treated as if they are American publications. The URAA restored copyright in foreign works that as of 1 January had fallen into the public domain in the United States because of a failure to comply with US formalities.

One of the authors of the work had to be a non-U. Such works have a copyright term equivalent to that of an American work that had followed all of the formalities. Circular 38b. The differing dates is a product of the question of controversial Twin Books v.

Walt Disney Co. The question at issue is the copyright status of a work only published in a foreign language outside of the United States and without a copyright notice. It had long been assumed that failure to comply with U. The court in Twin Books, however, concluded "publication without a copyright notice in a foreign country did not put the work in the public domain in the United States.

The decision has been harshly criticized in Nimmer on Copyright, the leading treatise on copyright, as being incompatible with previous decisions and the intent of Congress when it restored foreign copyrights. The Copyright Office as well ignores the Twin Books decision in its circular on restored copyrights.