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Coalition for Networked Information
Information Policies: A Compilation of Position Statements, Principles,
Statutes, and Other Pertinent Statements
Copyright Act of 1976
Source: Title 17, United States Code, Sections 101-810.
Chapter 4--Copyright Notice, Deposit, and Registration.
Analysis.
Sec.
401. Notice of copyright: Visually perceptible copies.
402. Notice of copyright: Phonorecords of sound recordings.
403. Notice of copyright: Publications incorporating United States
Government works.
404. Notice of copyright: Contributions to collective works.
405. Notice of copyright: Omission of notice.
406. Notice of copyright: Error in name or date.
407. Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress.
408. Copyright registration in general.
409. Application for copyright registration.
410. Registration of claim and issuance of certificate.
411. Registration as prerequisite to infringement suit.
412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for infringement.
Section 401. Notice of copyright: Visually perceptible copies.
(a) General Requirement. -- Whenever a work protected under this
title is published in the United States or elsewhere by authority of the
copyright owner, a notice of copyright as provided by this section shall
be placed on all publicly distributed copies from which the work can be
visually perceived, either directly or with the aid of a machine or
device.
(b) Form of Notice. -- The notice appearing on the copies shall consist
of the following three elements:
(1) the symbol of a small letter "c" inside of a circle, or the word
"Copyright," or the abbreviation "Copr."; and
(2) the year of first publication of the work; in the case of
compilations or derivative work is sufficient. The year date may be
omitted where a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with
accompanying text matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards
postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or any useful articles; and
(3) the name of the owner of copyright in the work, or an
abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally
known alternative designation of the owner.
(c) Position of Notice. -- The notice shall be affixed to the copies in
such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the claim of
copyright.
The Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation, as examples,
specific methods of affixation and positions of the notice on various
types of works that will satisfy this requirement, but these
specifications shall not be considered exhaustive.
Section 402. Notice of copyright: Phonorecords of sound recordings.
(a) General Requirement. -- Whenever a sound recording protected
under this title is published in the United States or elsewhere by
authority of the copyright owner, a notice of copyright as provided by
this section shall be placed on all publicly distributed phonorecords of
the sound recording.
(b) Form of Notice.- The notice appearing on the phonorecords shall
consist of the following three elements:
(1) the symbol of a small letter "p" inside of a circle; and
(2) the year of first publication of the sound recording; and
(3) the name of the owner of copyright in the sound recording, or an
abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally
known alternative designation of the owner; if the producer of the
sound recording is named on the phonorecord labels or containers, and
if no other name appears in conjunction with the notice, the producer's
name shall be considered a part of the notice.
(c) Position of Notice. -- The notice shall be placed on the surface of
the phonorecord, or on the phonorecord label or container, in such
manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the claim of
copyright.
Section 403. Notice of copyright: Publications incorporating United
States Government works.
Whenever a work is published in copies or phonorecords consisting
preponderantly of one or more works of the United States Government,
the notice of copyright provided by sections 401 or 402 shall also
include a statement identifying, either affirmatively or negatively,
those portions of the copies or phonorecords embodying any work or
works protected under this title.
Section 404. Notice of copyright: Contributions to collective works.
(a) A separate contribution to a collective work may bear its own
notice of copyright, as provided by sections 401 through 403. However,
a single notice applicable to the collective work as a whole is sufficient
to satisfy the requirements of sections 401 through 403 with respect to
the separate contributions it contains (not including advertisements
inserted on behalf of persons other than the owner of copyright in the
collective work), regardless of the ownership of copyright in the
contributions and whether or not they have been previously published.
(b) Where the person named in a single notice applicable to a
collective work as a whole is not the owner of copyright in a separate
contribution that does not bear its own notice, the case is governed by
the provisions of section 406(a).
Section 405. Notice of copyright: Omission of notice.
(a) Effect of Omission on Copyright. -- The omission of the copyright
notice prescribed by sections 401 through 403 from copies or
phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner
does not invalidate the copyright in a work if-
(1) the notice has been omitted from no more than a relatively
small number of copies or phonorecords distributed to the public; to
(2) registration for the work has been made before or is made
within five years after the publication without notice, and a
reasonable effort is made to add notice to all copies or phonorecords
that are distributed to the public in the United States after the
omission has been discovered; or
(3) the notice has been omitted in violation of an express
requirement in writing that, as a condition of the copyright owner's
authorization of the public distribution of copies or phonorecords,
they bear the prescribed notice.
(b) Effect of Omission on Innocent Infringers. -- Any person who
innocently infringes a copyright, in reliance upon an authorized copy or
phonorecord from which the copyright notice has been omitted, incurs
no liability for actual or statutory damages under section 504 for any
infringing acts committed before receiving actual notice that
registration for the work has been made under section 408, if such person
proves that he or she was misled by the omission of notice. In a suit for
infringement in such a case the court may allow or disallow recovery of
any of the infringer's profits attributable to the infringement, and may
enjoin the continuation of the infringing undertaking or may require, as
a condition or [sic] permitting the continuation of the infringing
undertaking, that the infringer pay the copyright owner a reasonable
license fee in an amount and on terms fixed by the court.
(c) Removal of Notice. -- Protection under this title is not affected by
the removal, destruction, or obliteration of the notice, without the
authorization of the copyright owner, from any publicly distributed
copies or phonorecords.
Section 406. Notice of copyright: Error in name or date.
(a) Error in Name. -- Where the person named in the copyright notice
on copies or phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the
copyright owner is not the owner of copyright, the validity and
ownership of the copyright are not affected. In such a case, however,
any person who innocently begins an undertaking that infringes the
copyright has a complete defense to any action for such infringement if
such person proves that he or she was misled by the notice and began
the undertaking in good faith under a purported transfer or license from
the person named therein, unless before the undertaking was begun-
(1) registration for the work had been made in the name of the
owner of copyright; or
(2) a document executed by the person named in the notice and
showing the ownership of the copyright had been recorded. The
person named in the notice is liable to account to the copyright owner
for all receipts from transfers or licenses purportedly made under the
copyright by the person named in the notice.
(b) Error in Date. -- When the year date in the notice on copies or
phonorecords distributed by authority of the copyright owner is earlier
than the year in which publication first occurred, any period computed
from the year of first publication first occurred, the work is considered
to have been published without any notice and is governed by the
provisions of section 405.
(c) Omission of Name or Date. -- Where copies or phonorecords
publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner contain no
name or no date that could reasonably be considered a part of the notice,
the work is considered to have been published without any notice and is
governed by the provisions of section 405.
Section 407. Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress.
(a) Except as provided by subsection (c), and subject to the provisions
of subsection (e), the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of
publication in a work published with notice of copyright in the United
States shall deposit, within three months after the date of such
publication-
(1) two complete copies of the best edition; or
(2) if the work is a sound recording, two complete phonorecords of
the best edition, together with any printed or other visually
perceptible material published with such phonorecords. Neither
the deposit requirements of this subsection nor the acquisition
provisions of subsection (e) are conditions of copyright protection.
(b) The required copies or phonorecords shall be deposited in the
Copyright Office for the use or disposition of the Library of Congress.
The Register of Copyrights shall, when requested by the depositor and
upon payment of the fee prescribed by section 708, issue a receipt for the
deposit.
(c) The Register of Copyrights may be regulation exempt any
categories of material from the deposit requirements of this section, or
require deposit of only one copy or phonorecord with respect to any
categories. Such regulations shall provide either for complete
exemption from the deposit requirements of this section, or for
alternative forms of deposit aimed at providing a satisfactory
archival record of a work without imposing practical or financial
hardships on the depositor, where the individual author is the owner
of copyright in a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work and (i) less than
five copies of the work have been published, or (ii) the work has been
published in a limited edition consisting of numbered copies the
monetary value of which would make the mandatory deposit of two
copies of the best edition of the work burdensome, unfair, or
unreasonable.
(d) At any time after publication of a work as provided by subsection
(a), the Register of Copyrights may make written demand for the
required deposit of any of the persons obligated to make the deposit
under subsection (a). Unless deposit is made within three months after
the demand is received, the person or persons on whom the demand was
made are liable-
(1) to a fine of not more than $250 for each work; and
(2) to pay into a specially designated fund in the Library of
Congress the total retail price of the copies or phonorecords
demanded, or, if no retail price has been fixed, the reasonable cost of
the Library of Congress of acquiring them; and
(3) to pay a fine of $2,500, in addition to any fine or liability
imposed under clauses (1) and (2), if such person willfully or
repeatedly fails or refuses to comply with such a demand.
(e) With respect to transmission programs that have been fixed and
transmitted to the public in the United States but have not been
published, the Register of Copyrights shall, after consulting with the
Librarian of Congress and other interested organizations and officials,
establish regulation governing the acquisition, through deposit or
otherwise, of copies or phonorecords of such programs for the collections
of the Library of Congress.
(1) The Librarian of Congress shall be permitted, under the
standards and conditions set forth in such regulations to make a
fixation of a transmission program directly from a transmission to the
public, and to reproduce one copy or phonorecord from such fixation
for archival purposes.
(2) Such regulations shall also provide standards and procedures
by which the Register of Copyrights may make written demand,
upon the owner of the right of transmission in the United States, for
the deposit of a copy or phonorecord of a specific transmission
program. Such deposit may, at the option of the owner of the right of
transmission in the United States, be accomplished by gift, by loan
for purposes of reproduction, or by sale at a price not to exceed the
cost of reproducing and supplying the copy or phonorecord. The
regulations established under this clause shall provide reasonable
periods of not less than three months for compliance with a demand,
and shall allow for extensions of such periods and adjustments in the
scope of the demand or the methods for fulfilling it, as reasonably
warranted by the circumstances. Willful failure or refusal to comply
with the conditions prescribed by such regulations shall subject the
owner to the right of transmission in the United States to liability
for an amount, not to exceed the cost of reproducing and supplying the
copy or phonorecord in question, to be paid into a specially
designated fund in the Library of Congress.
(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require the
making or retention, for purposes of deposit, of any copy or
phonorecord of an unpublished transmission program, the
transmission of which occurs before the receipt of a specific written
demand as provided by clause (2).
(4) No activity undertaken in compliance with regulations
prescribed under clauses (1) or (2) of this subsection shall result in
liability if intended solely to assist in the acquisition of copies or
phonorecords under this subsection.
Section 408. Copyright registration in general.
(a) Registration Permissive. -- At any time during the subsistence of
copyright in any published or unpublished work, the owner of
copyright or of any exclusive right in the work may obtain registration
of the copyright claim by delivering to the Copyright Office the
deposit specified by this section, together with the application and fee
specified by sections 409 and 708. Subject to the provisions of section
405(a), such registration is not a condition of copyright protection.
(b) Deposit for Copyright Registration. -- Except as provided by
subsection
(c) The material deposited for registration shall include-
(1) in the case of an unpublished work, one complete copy or
phonorecord;
(2) in the case of the published work, two complete copies or
phonorecords of the best edition;
(3) in the case of a work first published outside the United States,
one complete copy or phonorecord as so published;
(4) in the case of a contribution to a collective work, one complete
copy or phonorecord of the best edition of the collective work. Copies
or phonorecords deposited for the Library of Congress under section
407 may be used to satisfy the deposit provisions of this section, if
they are accompanied by the prescribed application and fee, and by
any additional identifying material that the Register may, by
regulation, require. The Register shall also prescribe regulations
establishing requirements under which copies or phonorecords
acquired for the Library of Congress under subsection (e) of section 407,
otherwise than by deposit, may be used to satisfy the deposit
provisions of this section.
(c) Administrative Classification and Optional Deposit.-
(1) The Register of Copyrights is authorized to specify by
regulation the administrative classes into which works are to be
placed for purposes of deposit and registration, and the nature of the
copies or phonorecords to be deposited in the various classes
specified. The regulations may require or permit, for particular
classes, the deposit of identifying material instead of copies or
phonorecords, the deposit of only one copy or phonorecord where two
would normally be required, or a single registration for a group of
related works. This administrative classification of works has no
significance with respect to the subject matter of copyright or the
exclusive rights provided by this title.
(2) Without prejudice to the general authority provided under
clause (1), the Register of Copyrights shall establish regulations
specifically permitting a single registration for a group of works by
the same individual author, all first published as contributions to
periodicals, including newspapers, within a twelve-month period, on
the basis of a single deposit, application, and registration fee, under
all of the following conditions-
(A) if each of the works as first published bore a separate
copyright notice, and the name of the owner of copyright in the
work, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a
generally known alternative designation of the owner was the
same in each notice; and
(B) if the deposit consists of one copy of the entire issue of
the periodical, or of the entire section in the case of a newspaper,
in which each contribution was first published; and
(C) if the application identifies each work separately,
including the periodical containing it and its date of first
publication.
(3) As an alternative to separate renewal registrations under
subsection (a) of section 304, a single renewal registration may be
made for a group of works by the same individual author, all first
published as contributions to periodicals, including newspapers, upon
the filing of a single application and fee, under all of the following
conditions:
(A) the renewal claimant or claimants, and the basis of claim or
claims under section 304(a), is the same for each of the works; and
(B) the works were all copyrighted upon their first publication,
either through separate copyright notice and registration or by
virtue of a general copyright notice in the periodical issue as a
whole; and
(C) the renewal application and fee are received not more than
twenty-eight or less than twenty-seven years after the thirty-first
day of December of the calendar year in which all of the works
were first published; and
(D) the renewal application identifies each work separately,
including the periodical containing it and its date of first
publication
(d) Corrections and Amplifications. -- The register may also
establish, by regulation, formal procedures for the filing of an
application for supplementary registration, to correct an error in a
copyright registration or to amplify the information given in a
registration. Such application shall be accompanied by the fee
provided by section 708, and shall clearly identify the registration to
be corrected or amplified. The information contained in a
supplementary registration augments but does not supersede that
contained in the earlier registration.
(e) Published Edition of Previously Registered Work. -- Registration
for the first published edition of a work previously registered in
unpublished form may be made even though the work as published is
substantially the same as the unpublished version.
Section 409. Application for copyright registration.
The application for copyright registration shall be made on a form
prescribed by the Register of Copyrights and shall include-
(1) the name and address of the copyright claimant;
(2) in the case of a work other than an anonymous or pseudonymous
work, the name and nationality or domicile of the author or authors,
and, if one or more of the authors is dead, the dates of their deaths;
(3) if the work is anonymous or pseudonymous, the nationality or
domicile of the author or authors;
(4) in the case of a work made for hire, a statement to this effect;
(5) if the copyright claimant is not the author, a brief statement of
how the claimant obtained ownership of the copyright;
(6) the title of the work, together with any previous or alternative
titles under which the work can be identified;
(7) the year in which creation of the work was completed;
(8) if the work has been published, the date and nation of its first
publication;
(9) in the case of a compilation or derivative work, an
identification of any preexisting work or works that it is based on or
incorporates, and a brief, general statement of the additional
material covered by the copyright claim being registered;
(10) in the case of a published work containing material of which
copies are required by section 601 to be manufactured in the United
States, the names of the persons or organizations who performed the
processes specified by subsection (c) of section 601 with respect to that
material, and the places where those processes were performed; and
(11) any other information regarded by the Register of Copyrights
as bearing upon the preparation or identification of the work or the
existence, ownership, or duration of the copyright.
Section 410. Registration of claim and issuance of certificate.
(a) When, after examination, the Register of Copyrights determines
that, in accordance with the provisions of this title, the material
deposited constitutes copyrightable subject matter and that the other
legal and formal requirements of this title have been met, the Register
shall register the claim and issue to the applicant a certificate of
registration under the seal of the Copyright Office. The certificate
shall contain the information given in the application, together with
the number and effective date of the registration.
(b) In any case in which the Register of Copyrights determines that,
in accordance with the provisions of this title, the material deposited
does not constitute copyrightable subject matter or that the claim is
invalid for any other reason, the Register shall refuse registration and
shall notify the applicant in writing of the reasons for such refusal.
(c) In any judicial proceedings the certificate of a registration made
before or within five years after first publication of the work shall
constitute prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and of
the facts stated in the certificate. The evidentiary weight to be
accorded the certificate of a registration made thereafter shall be
within the discretion of the court.
(d) The effective date of a copyright registration is the day on which
an application, deposit, and fee, which are later determined by the
Register of Copyrights or by a court of competent jurisdiction to be
acceptable for registration, have all been received in the Copyright
Office.
Section 411. Registration as prerequisite to infringement suit.
(a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b), no action for
infringement of the copyright in any work shall be instituted until
registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with
this title. In any case, however, where the deposit, application, and
fee required for registration have been delivered to the Copyright
Office in proper form and registration has been refused, the applicant is
entitled to institute an action for infringement if notice thereof, with a
copy of the complaint, is served on the Register of Copyrights. the
Register may, at his or her option, become a party to the action with
respect to the issue of registrability of the copyright claim by entering
an appearance within sixty days after such service, but the Register's
failure to become a party shall not deprive the court of jurisdiction to
determine that issue.
(b) In the case of a work consisting of sounds, images, or both, the first
fixation of which is made simultaneously with its transmission, the
copyright owner may, either before or after such fixation takes place,
institute an action for infringement under section 501, fully subject to the
remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and sections 509 and 510,
if, in accordance with requirements that the Register of Copyrights
shall prescribe by regulation, the copyright owner-
Section 412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for
infringement.
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