-CITE-
    17 USC CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND
           REGISTRATION                                    01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
          CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-MISC1-
    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 on certain
                 copies and phonorecords.
    406.        Notice of copyright: Error in name or date on certain
                 copies and phonorecords.
    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 and infringement actions.
    412.        Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for
                 infringement.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Pub. L. 100-568, Secs. 7(g), 9(b)(2), Oct. 31, 1988, 102
    Stat. 2859, inserted in items 405 and 406 "on certain copies and
    phonorecords" and substituted in item 411 "Registration and
    infringement actions" for "Registration as prerequisite to
    infringement suit".
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 401                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 401. Notice of copyright: Visually perceptible copies
-STATUTE-
      (a) General Provisions. - 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 may be placed on 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. - If a notice appears on the copies, it shall
    consist of the following three elements:
        (1) the symbol &copy; (the letter C in 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 works incorporating previously
      published material, the year date of first publication of the
      compilation 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.
      (d) Evidentiary Weight of Notice. - If a notice of copyright in
    the form and position specified by this section appears on the
    published copy or copies to which a defendant in a copyright
    infringement suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such
    a defendant's interposition of a defense based on innocent
    infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages, except
    as provided in the last sentence of section 504(c)(2).
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2576;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(a), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2857.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      A requirement that the public be given formal notice of every
    work in which copyright is claimed was a part of the first U.S.
    copyright statute enacted in 1790, and since 1802 our copyright
    laws have always provided that the published copies of copyrighted
    works must bear a specified notice as a condition of protection.
    Under the present law the copyright notice serves four principal
    functions:
        (1) It has the effect of placing in the public domain a
      substantial body of published material that no one is interested
      in copyrighting;
        (2) It informs the public as to whether a particular work is
      copyrighted;
        (3) It identifies the copyright owner; and
        (4) It shows the date of publication.
      Ranged against these values of a notice requirement are its
    burdens and unfairness to copyright owners. One of the strongest
    arguments for revision of the present statute has been the need to
    avoid the arbitrary and unjust forfeitures now resulting from
    unintentional or relatively unimportant omissions or errors in the
    copyright notice. It has been contended that the disadvantages of
    the notice requirement outweigh its values and that it should
    therefore be eliminated or substantially liberalized.
      The fundamental principle underlying the notice provisions of the
    bill is that the copyright notice has real values which should be
    preserved, and that this should be done by inducing use of notice
    without causing outright forfeiture for errors or omissions.
    Subject to certain safeguards for innocent infringers, protection
    would not be lost by the complete omission of copyright notice from
    large numbers of copies or from a whole edition, if registration
    for the work is made before or within 5 years after publication.
    Errors in the name or date in the notice could be corrected without
    forfeiture of copyright.
      Sections 401 and 402 set out the basic notice requirements of the
    bill, the former dealing with "copies from which the work can be
    visually perceived," and the latter covering "phonorecords" of a
    "sound recording." The notice requirements established by these
    parallel provisions apply only when copies or phonorecords of the
    work are "publicly distributed." No copyright notice would be
    required in connection with the public display of a copy by any
    means, including projectors, television, or cathode ray tubes
    connected with information storage and retrieval systems, or in
    connection with the public performance of a work by means of copies
    or phonorecords, whether in the presence of an audience or through
    television, radio, computer transmission, or any other process.
      It should be noted that, under the definition of "publication" in
    section 101, there would no longer be any basis for holding, as a
    few court decisions have done in the past, that the public display
    of a work of art under some conditions (e.g., without restriction
    against its reproduction) would constitute publication of the work.
    And, as indicated above, the public display of a work of art would
    not require that a copyright notice be placed on the copy
    displayed.
      Subsections (a) of both section 401 and section 402 require that
    a notice be used whenever the work "is published in the United
    States or elsewhere by authority of the copyright owner." The
    phrase "or elsewhere," which does not appear in the present law,
    makes the notice requirements applicable to copies or phonorecords
    distributed to the public anywhere in the world, regardless of
    where and when the work was first published. The values of notice
    are fully applicable to foreign editions of works copyrighted in
    the United States, especially with the increased flow of
    intellectual materials across national boundaries, and the gains in
    the use of notice on editions published abroad under the Universal
    Copyright Convention should not be wiped out. The consequences of
    omissions or mistakes with respect to the notice are far less
    serious under the bill than under the present law, and section
    405(a) makes doubly clear that a copyright owner may guard himself
    against errors or omissions by others if he makes use of the
    prescribed notice an express condition of his publishing licenses.
      Subsection (b) of section 401, which sets out the form of notice
    to appear on visually-perceptible copies, retains the basic
    elements of the notice under the present law: the word "Copyright",
    the abbreviation "Copr.", or the symbol &copy; ; the year of
    first publication; and the name of the copyright owner. The year of
    publication, which is still significant in computing the term and
    determining the status of a work, is required for all categories of
    copyrightable works. Clause (2) of subsection (b) makes clear that,
    in the case of a derivative work or compilation, it is not
    necessary to list the dates of publication of all preexisting
    material incorporated in the work; however, as noted below in
    connection with section 409, the application for registration
    covering a compilation or derivative work must identify "any
    preexisting work or works that it is based on or incorporates."
    Clause (3) establishes that a recognizable abbreviation or a
    generally known alternative designation may be used instead of the
    full name of the copyright owner.
      By providing simply that the notice "shall be affixed to the
    copies in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of
    the claim of copyright," subsection (c) follows the flexible
    approach of the Universal Copyright Convention. The further
    provision empowering the Register of Copyrights to set forth in
    regulations a list of examples of "specific methods of affixation
    and positions of the notice on various types of works that will
    satisfy this requirement" will offer substantial guidance and avoid
    a good deal of uncertainty. A notice placed or affixed in
    accordance with the regulations would clearly meet the requirements
    but, since the Register's specifications are not to "be considered
    exhaustive," a notice placed or affixed in some other way might
    also comply with the law if it were found to "give reasonable
    notice" of the copyright claim.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(a)(1), (2),
    substituted "General provisions" for "General requirement" in
    heading, and "may be placed on" for "shall be placed on all" in
    text.
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(a)(3), substituted "If a
    notice appears on the copies, it" for "The notice appearing on the
    copies".
      Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(a)(4), added subsec. (d).
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
     COMPLIANCE WITH PREDECESSOR NOTICE PROVISIONS; COPIES DISTRIBUTED
                            AFTER DEC. 31, 1977
      Section 108 of Pub. L. 94-553 provided that: "The notice
    provisions of sections 401 through 403 of title 17 as amended by
    the first section of this Act [sections 401 through 403 of this
    title] apply to all copies or phonorecords publicly distributed on
    or after January 1, 1978. However, in the case of a work published
    before January 1, 1978, compliance with the notice provisions of
    title 17 either as it existed on December 31, 1977, or as amended
    by the first section of this Act, is adequate with respect to
    copies publicly distributed after December 31, 1977."
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 402                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 402. Notice of copyright: Phonorecords of sound recordings
-STATUTE-
      (a) General Provisions. - 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 may be placed on publicly distributed phonorecords
    of the sound recording.
      (b) Form of Notice. - If a notice appears on the phonorecords, it
    shall consist of the following three elements:
        (1) the symbol P (the letter P in 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.
      (d) Evidentiary Weight of Notice. - If a notice of copyright in
    the form and position specified by this section appears on the
    published phonorecord or phonorecords to which a defendant in a
    copyright infringement suit had access, then no weight shall be
    given to such a defendant's interposition of a defense based on
    innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages,
    except as provided in the last sentence of section 504(c)(2).
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2577;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(b), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2857.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      A special notice requirement, applicable only to the subject
    matter of sound recordings, is established by section 402. Since
    the bill protects sound recordings as separate works, independent
    of protection for any literary or musical works embodied in them,
    there would be a likelihood of confusion if the same notice
    requirements applied to sound recordings and to the works they
    incorporate. Like the present law, therefore, section 402 thus sets
    forth requirements for a notice to appear on the "phonorecords" of
    "sound recordings" that are different from the notice requirements
    established by section 401 for the "copies" of all other types of
    copyrightable works. Since "phonorecords" are not "copies," there
    is no need to place a section 401 notice on "phonorecords" to
    protect the literary or musical works embodied in the records.
      In general, the form of the notice specified by section 402(b)
    consists of the symbol "P"; the year of first publication of the
    sound recording; and the name of the copyright owner or an
    admissible variant. Where the record producer's name appears on the
    record label, album, sleeve, jacket, or other container, it will be
    considered a part of the notice if no other name appears in
    conjunction with it. Under subsection (c), the notice for a
    copyrighted sound recording may be affixed to the surface, label,
    or container of the phonorecord "in such manner and location as to
    give reasonable notice of the claim of copyright."
      There are at least three reasons for prescribing use of the
    symbol "P" rather than &copy in the notice to appear on
    phonorecords of sound recordings. Aside from the need to avoid
    confusion between claims to copyright in the sound recording and in
    the musical or literary work embodied in it, there is also a
    necessity for distinguishing between copyright claims in the sound
    recording and in the printed text or art work appearing on the
    record label, album cover, liner notes, et cetera. The symbol
    &copy; has also been adopted as the international symbol for
    the protection of sound recordings by the "Phonograms Convention"
    (the Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms
    Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms, done at
    Geneva October 29, 1971), to which the United States is a party.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(b)(1), (2),
    substituted "General provisions" for "General requirement" in
    heading, and "may be placed on" for "shall be placed on all" in
    text.
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(b)(3), substituted "If a
    notice appears on the phonorecords, it" for "The notice appearing
    on the phonorecords".
      Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(b)(4), added subsec. (d).
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 403                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 403. Notice of copyright: Publications incorporating United
      States Government works
-STATUTE-
      Sections 401(d) and 402(d) shall not apply to a work published in
    copies or phonorecords consisting predominantly of one or more
    works of the United States Government unless the notice of
    copyright appearing on the published copies or phonorecords to
    which a defendant in the copyright infringement suit had access
    includes a statement identifying, either affirmatively or
    negatively, those portions of the copies or phonorecords embodying
    any work or works protected under this title.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2577;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(c), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2858.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      Section 403 is aimed at a publishing practice that, while
    technically justified under the present law, has been the object of
    considerable criticism. In cases where a Government work is
    published or republished commercially, it has frequently been the
    practice to add some "new matter" in the form of an introduction,
    editing, illustrations, etc., and to include a general copyright
    notice in the name of the commercial publisher. This in no way
    suggests to the public that the bulk of the work is uncopyrightable
    and therefore free for use.
      To make the notice meaningful rather than misleading, section 403
    requires that, when the copies or phonorecords consist
    "preponderantly of one or more works of the United States
    Government," the copyright notice (if any) identify those parts of
    the work in which copyright is claimed. A failure to meet this
    requirement would be treated as an omission of the notice, subject
    to the provisions of section 405.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Pub. L. 100-568 amended section generally. Prior to
    amendment, section read as follows: "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."
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 404                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 404. Notice of copyright: Contributions to collective works
-STATUTE-
      (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 invoke the provisions of section 401(d) or
    402(d), as applicable 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) With respect to copies and phonorecords publicly distributed
    by authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of
    the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, 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).
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2577;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(d), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2858.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      In conjunction with the provisions of section 201(c), section 404
    deals with a troublesome problem under the present law: the notice
    requirements applicable to contributions published in periodicals
    and other collective works. The basic approach of the section is
    threefold:
        (1) To permit but not require a separate contribution to bear
      its own notice;
        (2) To make a single notice, covering the collective work as a
      whole, sufficient to satisfy the notice requirement for the
      separate contributions it contains, even if they have been
      previously published or their ownership is different; and
        (3) To protect the interests of an innocent infringer of
      copyright in a contribution that does not bear its own notice,
      who has dealt in good faith with the person named in the notice
      covering the collective work as a whole.
      As a general rule, under this section, the rights in an
    individual contribution to a collective work would not be affected
    by the lack of a separate copyright notice, as long as the
    collective work as a whole bears a notice. One exception to this
    rule would apply to "advertisements inserted on behalf of persons
    other than the owner of copyright in the collective work."
    Collective works, notably newspapers and magazines, are major
    advertising media, and it is common for the same advertisement to
    be published in a number of different periodicals. The general
    copyright notice in a particular issue would not ordinarily protect
    the advertisements inserted in it, and relatively little
    advertising matter today is published with a separate copyright
    notice. The exception in section 404(a), under which separate
    notices would be required for most advertisements published in
    collective works, would impose no undue burdens on copyright owners
    and is justified by the special circumstances.
      Under section 404(b) a separate contribution that does not bear
    its own notice, and that is published in a collective work with a
    general notice containing the name of someone other than the
    copyright owner of the contribution, is treated as if it has been
    published with the wrong name in the notice. The case is governed
    by section 406(a), which means that an innocent infringer who in
    good faith took a license from the person named in the general
    notice would be shielded from liability to some extent.
-REFTEXT-
                            REFERENCES IN TEXT
      The effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of
    1988, referred to in subsec. (b), is Mar. 1, 1989, see section 13
    of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as an Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
    note under section 101 of this title.
-MISC2-
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(d)(1), substituted
    "to invoke the provisions of section 401(d) or 402(d), as
    applicable" for "to satisfy the requirements of sections 401
    through 403".
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(d)(2), substituted "With
    respect to copies and phonorecords publicly distributed by
    authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of the
    Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, where" for "Where".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 405                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 405. Notice of copyright: Omission of notice on certain copies
      and phonorecords
-STATUTE-
      (a) Effect of Omission on Copyright. - With respect to copies and
    phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright
    owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention
    Implementation Act of 1988, the omission of the copyright notice
    described in 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;
      or
        (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 and which was publicly distributed by authority of the
    copyright owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention
    Implementation Act of 1988, 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 for 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.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2578;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(e), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2858; Pub. L.
    105-80, Sec. 12(a)(10), Nov. 13, 1997, 111 Stat. 1535.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      Effect of Omission on Copyright Protection. The provisions of
    section 405(a) make clear that the notice requirements of sections
    401, 402, and 403 are not absolute and that, unlike the law now in
    effect, the outright omission of a copyright notice does not
    automatically forfeit protection and throw the work into the public
    domain. This not only represents a major change in the theoretical
    framework of American copyright law, but it also seems certain to
    have immediate practical consequences in a great many individual
    cases. Under the proposed law a work published without any
    copyright notice will still be subject to statutory protection for
    at least 5 years, whether the omission was partial or total,
    unintentional or deliberate.
      Under the general scheme of the bill, statutory copyright
    protection is secured automatically when a work is created, and is
    not lost when the work is published, even if the copyright notice
    is omitted entirely. Subsection (a) of section 405 provides that
    omission of notice, whether intentional or unintentional, does not
    invalidate the copyright if either of two conditions is met:
        (1) if "no more than a relatively small number" of copies or
      phonorecords have been publicly distributed without notice; or
        (2) if registration for the work has already been made, or is
      made within 5 years after the publication without notice, and a
      reasonable effort is made to add notice to copies or phonorecords
      publicly distributed in the United States after the omission is
      discovered.
      Thus, if notice is omitted from more than a "relatively small
    number" of copies or phonorecords, copyright is not lost
    immediately, but the work will go into the public domain if no
    effort is made to correct the error or if the work is not
    registered within 5 years.
      Section 405(a) takes a middle-ground approach in an effort to
    encourage use of a copyright notice without causing unfair and
    unjustifiable forfeitures on technical grounds. Clause (1) provides
    that, as long as the omission is from "no more than a relatively
    small number of copies or phonorecords," there is no effect upon
    the copyright owner's rights except in the case of an innocent
    infringement covered by section 405(b); there is no need for
    registration or for efforts to correct the error if this clause is
    applicable. The phrase "relatively small number" is intended to be
    less restrictive than the phrase "a particular copy or copies" now
    in section 21 of the present law [section 21 of former title 21].
      Under clause (2) of subsection (a), the first condition for
    curing an omission from a larger number of copies is that
    registration be made before the end of 5 years from the defective
    publication. This registration may have been made before the
    omission took place or before the work had been published in any
    form and, since the reasons for the omission have no bearing on the
    validity of copyright, there would be no need for the application
    to refer to them. Some time limit for registration is essential and
    the 5-year period is reasonable and consistent with the period
    provided in section 410(c).
      The second condition established by clause (2) is that the
    copyright owner make a "reasonable effort," after discovering his
    error, to add the notice to copies or phonorecords distributed
    thereafter. This condition is specifically limited to copies or
    phonorecords publicly distributed in the United States, since it
    would be burdensome and impractical to require an American
    copyright owner to police the activities of foreign licensees in
    this situation.
      The basic notice requirements set forth in sections 401(a) and
    402(a) are limited to cases where a work is published "by authority
    of the copyright owner" and, in prescribing the effect of omission
    of notice, section 405(a) refers only to omission "from copies or
    phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright
    owner." The intention behind this language is that, where the
    copyright owner authorized publication of the work, the notice
    requirements would not be met if copies or phonorecords are
    publicly distributed without a notice, even if he expected a notice
    to be used. However, if the copyright owner authorized publication
    only on the express condition that all copies or phonorecords bear
    a prescribed notice, the provisions of section 401 or 402 and of
    section 405 would not apply since the publication itself would not
    be authorized. This principle is stated directly in section
    405(a)(3).
      Effect of Omission on Innocent Infringers. In addition to the
    possibility that copyright protection will be forfeited under
    section 405(a)(2) if the notice is omitted, a second major
    inducement to use of the notice is found in subsection (b) of
    section 405. That provision, which limits the rights of a copyright
    owner against innocent infringers under certain circumstances,
    would be applicable whether the notice has been omitted from a
    large number or from a "relatively small number" of copies. The
    general postulates underlying the provision are that a person
    acting in good faith and with no reason to think otherwise should
    ordinarily be able to assume that a work is in the public domain if
    there is no notice on an authorized copy or phonorecord and that,
    if he relies on this assumption, he should be shielded from
    unreasonable liability.
      Under section 405(b) an innocent infringer who acts "in reliance
    upon an authorized copy or phonorecord from which the copyright
    notice has been omitted", and who proves that he was misled by the
    omission, is shielded from liability for actual or statutory
    damages with respect to "any infringing acts committed before
    receiving actual notice" of registration. Thus, where the
    infringement is completed before actual notice has been served - as
    would be the usual case with respect to relatively minor
    infringements by teachers, librarians, journalists, and the like -
    liability, if any, would be limited to the profits the infringer
    realized from the act of infringement. On the other hand, where the
    infringing enterprise is one running over a period of time, the
    copyright owner would be able to seek an injunction against
    continuation of the infringement, and to obtain full monetary
    recovery for all infringing acts committed after he had served
    notice of registration. Persons who undertake major enterprises of
    this sort should check the Copyright Office registration records
    before starting, even where copies have been published without
    notice.
      The purpose of the second sentence of subsection (b) is to give
    the courts broad discretion to balance the equities within the
    framework of section 405 [this section]. Where an infringer made
    profits from infringing acts committed innocently before receiving
    notice from the copyright owner, the court may allow or withhold
    their recovery in light of the circumstances. The court may enjoin
    an infringement or may permit its continuation on condition that
    the copyright owner be paid a reasonable license fee.
      Removal of Notice by Others. Subsection (c) of section 405
    involves the situation arising when, following an authorized
    publication with notice, someone further down the chain of commerce
    removes, destroys, or obliterates the notice. The courts dealing
    with this problem under the present law, especially in connection
    with copyright notices on the selvage of textile fabrics, have
    generally upheld the validity of a notice that was securely
    attached to the copies when they left the control of the copyright
    owner, even though removal of the notice at some later stage was
    likely. This conclusion is incorporated in subsection (c).
-REFTEXT-
                            REFERENCES IN TEXT
      The effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of
    1988, referred to in subsecs. (a) and (b), is Mar. 1, 1989, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as an Effective Date of 1988
    Amendment note under section 101 of this title.
-MISC2-
                                AMENDMENTS
      1997 - Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 105-80 substituted "condition for
    permitting the continuation" for "condition or permitting the
    continuation".
      1988 - Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(e)(3), substituted "notice on
    certain copies and phonorecords" for "notice" in section catchline.
      Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(e)(1), substituted "With
    respect to copies and phonorecords publicly distributed by
    authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of the
    Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, the omission of the
    copyright notice described in" for "The omission of the copyright
    notice prescribed by".
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(e)(2), substituted "omitted
    and which was publicly distributed by authority of the copyright
    owner before the effective date of the Berne Convention
    Implementation Act of 1988," for "omitted,".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 406                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 406. Notice of copyright: Error in name or date on certain
      copies and phonorecords
-STATUTE-
      (a) Error in Name. - With respect to copies and phonorecords
    publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the
    effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988,
    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 before the effective date of the Berne
    Convention Implementation Act of 1988 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 under
    section 302 is to be computed from the year in the notice. Where
    the year date is more than one year later 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.
      (c) Omission of Name or Date. - Where copies or phonorecords
    publicly distributed before the effective date of the Berne
    Convention Implementation Act of 1988 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 as in effect on the day before the effective date of
    the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2578;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(f), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2858.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      In addition to cases where notice has been omitted entirely, it
    is common under the present law for a copyright notice to be
    fatally defective because the name or date has been omitted or
    wrongly stated. Section 406 is intended to avoid technical
    forfeitures in these cases, while at the same time inducing use of
    the correct name and date and protecting users who rely on
    erroneous information.
      Error in Name. Section 406(a) begins with a statement that the
    use of the wrong name in the notice will not affect the validity or
    ownership of the copyright, and then deals with situations where
    someone acting innocently and in good faith infringes a copyright
    by relying on a purported transfer or license from the person
    erroneously named in the notice. In such a case the innocent
    infringer is given a complete defense unless a search of the
    Copyright Office records would have shown that the owner was
    someone other than the person named in the notice. Use of the wrong
    name in the notice is no defense if, at the time infringement was
    begun, registration had been made in the name of the true owner, or
    if "a document executed by the person named in the notice and
    showing the ownership of the copyright had been recorded."
      The situation dealt with in section 406(a) presupposes a
    contractual relation between the copyright owner and the person
    named in the notice. The copies or phonorecords bearing the
    defective notice have been "distributed by authority of the
    copyright owner" and, unless the publication can be considered
    unauthorized because of breach of an express condition in the
    contract or other reasons, the owner must be presumed to have
    acquiesced in the use of the wrong name. If the person named in the
    notice grants a license for use of the work in good faith or under
    a misapprehension, that person should not be liable as a copyright
    infringer, but the last sentence of section 406(a) would make the
    person named in the notice liable to account to the copyright owner
    for "all receipts, from transfers or licenses purportedly made
    under the copyright" by that person.
      Error in Date. The familiar problems of antedated and postdated
    notices are dealt with in subsection (b) of section 406. In the
    case of an antedated notice, where the year in the notice is
    earlier than the year of first publication, the bill adopts the
    established judicial principle that any statutory term measured
    from the year of publication will be computed from the year given
    in the notice. This provision would apply not only to the copyright
    terms of anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for
    hire under section 302(c), but also to the presumptive periods set
    forth in section 302(e).
      As for postdated notices, subsection (b) provides that, where the
    year in the notice is more than one year later than the year of
    first publication the case is treated as if the notice had been
    omitted and is governed by section 405. Notices postdated by one
    year are quite common on works published near the end of a year,
    and it would be unnecessarily strict to equate cases of that sort
    with works published without notice of any sort.
      Omission of Name or Date. Section 406(c) provides that, if the
    copies or phonorecords "contain no name or no date that could
    reasonably be considered a part of the notice," the result is the
    same as if the notice had been omitted entirely, and section 405
    controls. Unlike the present law, the bill contains no provision
    requiring the elements of the copyright notice to "accompany" each
    other, and under section 406(c) a name or date that could
    reasonably be read with the other elements may satisfy the
    requirements even if somewhat separated from them. Direct
    contiguity or juxtaposition of the elements is no longer necessary;
    but if the elements are too widely separated for their relation to
    be apparent, or if uncertainty is created by the presence of other
    names or dates, the case would have to be treated as if the name or
    date, and hence the notice itself had been omitted altogether.
-REFTEXT-
                            REFERENCES IN TEXT
      The effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of
    1988, referred to in text, is Mar. 1, 1989, see section 13 of Pub.
    L. 100-568, set out as an Effective Date of 1988 Amendment note
    under section 101 of this title.
-MISC2-
                                AMENDMENTS
      1988 - Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(f)(4), substituted "date on
    certain copies and phonorecords" for "date" in section catchline.
      Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(f)(1), substituted "With
    respect to copies and phonorecords publicly distributed by
    authority of the copyright owner before the effective date of the
    Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, where" for "Where".
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(f)(2), inserted "before the
    effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988"
    after "distributed".
      Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 7(f)(3), inserted "before the
    effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988"
    after "publicly distributed" and "as in effect on the day before
    the effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of
    1988" after "section 405".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 407                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 407. Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress
-STATUTE-
      (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 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 by 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 on 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 to 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 regulations 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 of 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.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2579;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 8, Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2859; Pub. L. 105-
    80, Sec. 12(a)(11), Nov. 13, 1997, 111 Stat. 1535.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      The provisions of sections 407 through 411 of the bill mark
    another departure from the present law. Under the 1909 statute,
    deposit of copies for the collections of the Library of Congress
    and deposit of copies for purposes of copyright registration have
    been treated as the same thing. The bill's basic approach is to
    regard deposit and registration as separate though closely related:
    deposit of copies or phonorecords for the Library of Congress is
    mandatory, but exceptions can be made for material the Library
    neither needs nor wants; copyright registration is not generally
    mandatory, but is a condition of certain remedies for copyright
    infringement. Deposit for the Library of Congress can be, and in
    the bulk of cases undoubtedly will be, combined with copyright
    registration.
      The basic requirement of the deposit provision, section 407, is
    that within 3 months after a work has been published with notice of
    copyright in the United States, the "owner of copyright or of the
    exclusive right of publication" must deposit two copies or
    phonorecords of the work in the Copyright Office. The Register of
    Copyrights is authorized to exempt any category of material from
    the deposit requirements. Where the category is not exempted and
    deposit is not made, the Register may demand it; failure to comply
    would be penalized by a fine.
      Under the present law deposits for the Library of Congress must
    be combined with copyright registration, and failure to comply with
    a formal demand for deposit and registration results in complete
    loss of copyright. Under section 407 of the bill, the deposit
    requirements can be satisfied without ever making registration, and
    subsection (a) makes clear that deposit "is not a condition of
    copyright protection." A realistic fine, coupled with the increased
    inducements for voluntary registration and deposit under other
    sections of the bill, seems likely to produce a more effective
    deposit system than the present one. The bill's approach will also
    avoid the danger that, under a divisible copyright, one copyright
    owner's rights could be destroyed by another owner's failure to
    deposit.
      Although the basic deposit requirements are limited to works
    "published with notice of copyright in the United States," they
    would become applicable as soon as a work first published abroad is
    published in this country through the distribution of copies or
    phonorecords that are either imported or are part of an American
    edition. With respect to all types or works other than sound
    recordings, the basic obligation is to deposit "two complete copies
    of the best edition"; the term "best edition," as defined in
    section 101, makes clear that the Library of Congress is entitled
    to receive copies of phonorecords from the edition it believes best
    suits its needs regardless of the quantity or quality of other U.S.
    editions that may also have been published before the time of
    deposit. Once the deposit requirements for a particular work have
    been satisfied under section 407, however, the Library cannot claim
    deposit of future editions unless they represent newly
    copyrightable works under section 103.
      The deposit requirement for sound recordings includes "two
    complete phonorecords of the best edition" and any other visually-
    perceptible material published with the phonorecords. The
    reference here is to the text or pictorial matter appearing on
    record sleeves and album covers or embodied in separate leaflets or
    booklets included in a sleeve, album, or other container. The
    required deposit in the case of a sound recording would extend to
    the entire "package" and not just to the disk, tape, or other
    phonorecord included as part of it.
      Deposits under section 407, although made in the Copyright
    Office, are "for the use or disposition of the Library of
    Congress." Thus, the fundamental criteria governing regulations
    issued under section 407(c), which allows exemptions from the
    deposit requirements for certain categories of works, would be the
    needs and wants of the Library. The purpose of this provision is to
    make the deposit requirements as flexible as possible, so that
    there will be no obligation to make deposits where it serves no
    purpose, so that only one copy or phonorecord may be deposited
    where two are not needed, and so that reasonable adjustments can be
    made to meet practical needs in special cases. The regulations, in
    establishing special categories for these purposes, would
    necessarily balance the value of the copies or phonorecords to the
    collections of the Library of Congress against the burdens and
    costs to the copyright owner of providing them.
      The Committee adopted an amendment to subsection (c) of section
    407, aimed at meeting the concerns expressed by representatives of
    various artists' groups concerning the deposit of expensive art
    works and graphics published in limited editions. Under the present
    law, optional deposit of photographs is permitted for various
    classes of works, but not for fine prints, and this has resulted in
    many artists choosing to forfeit copyright protection rather than
    bear the expense of depositing "two copies of the best edition." To
    avoid this unfair result, the last sentence of subsection (c) would
    require the Register to issue regulations under which such works
    would either be exempted entirely from the mandatory deposit or
    would be subject to an appropriate alternative form of deposit.
      If, within three months after the Register of Copyrights has made
    a formal demand for deposit in accordance with section 407(d), the
    person on whom the demand was made has not complied, that person
    becomes liable to a fine up to $250 for each work, plus the "total
    retail price of the copies or phonorecords demanded." If no retail
    price has been fixed, clause (2) of subsection (d) establishes the
    additional amount as "the reasonable cost to the Library of
    Congress of acquiring them." Thus, where the copies or phonorecords
    are not available for sale through normal trade channels - as would
    be true of many motion picture films, video tapes, and computer
    tapes, for example - the item of cost to be included in the fine
    would be equal to the basic expense of duplicating the copies or
    phonorecords plus a reasonable amount representing what it would
    have cost the Library to obtain them under its normal acquisitions
    procedures, if they had been available.
      There have been cases under the present law in which the
    mandatory deposit provisions have been deliberately and repeatedly
    ignored, presumably on the assumption that the Library is unlikely
    to enforce them. In addition to the penalties provided in the
    current bill, the last clause of subsection (d) would add a fine of
    $2,500 for willful or repeated failure or refusal to deposit upon
    demand.
      The Committee also amended section 407 [this section] by adding a
    new subsection (e), with conforming amendments of sections 407(a)
    and 408(b). These amendments are intended to provide a basis for
    the Library of Congress to acquire, as a part of the copyright
    deposit system, copies or recordings of non-syndicated radio and
    television programs, without imposing any hardships on
    broadcasters. Under subsection (e) the Library is authorized to
    tape programs off the air in all cases and may "demand" that the
    broadcaster supply the Library with a copy or phonorecord of a
    particular program. However, this "demand" authority is extremely
    limited: (1) The broadcaster is not required to retain any
    recording of a program after it has been transmitted unless a
    demand has already been received; (2) the demand would cover only a
    particular program; "blanket" demands would not be permitted; (3)
    the broadcaster would have the option of supplying the demand by
    gift, by loan for purposes of reproduction, or by sale at cost; and
    (4) the penalty for willful failure or refusal to comply with a
    demand is limited to the cost of reproducing and supplying the copy
    or phonorecord in question.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1997 - Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 105-80 substituted "cost to the
    Library of Congress" for "cost of the Library of Congress".
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568 struck out "with notice of
    copyright" before "in the United States".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
        DEPOSITS AND REGISTRATIONS MADE AFTER DECEMBER 31, 1977, IN
    RESPONSE TO DEMAND UNDER PREDECESSOR DEMAND AND PENALTY PROVISIONS
      Section 110 of Pub. L. 94-553 provided that: "The demand and
    penalty provisions of section 14 of title 17 as it existed on
    December 31, 1977, apply to any work in which copyright has been
    secured by publication with notice of copyright on or before that
    date, but any deposit and registration made after that date in
    response to a demand under that section shall be made in accordance
    with the provisions of title 17 as amended by the first section of
    this Act."
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 408                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 408. Copyright registration in general
-STATUTE-
      (a) Registration Permissive. - At any time during the subsistence
    of the first term of copyright in any published or unpublished work
    in which the copyright was secured before January 1, 1978, and
    during the subsistence of any copyright secured on or after that
    date, 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.
    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 a 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 the following
      conditions:
          (A) 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
          (B) 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.
      (f) Preregistration of Works Being Prepared for Commercial
    Distribution. -
        (1) Rulemaking. - Not later than 180 days after the date of
      enactment of this subsection, the Register of Copyrights shall
      issue regulations to establish procedures for preregistration of
      a work that is being prepared for commercial distribution and has
      not been published.
        (2) Class of works. - The regulations established under
      paragraph (1) shall permit preregistration for any work that is
      in a class of works that the Register determines has had a
      history of infringement prior to authorized commercial
      distribution.
        (3) Application for registration. - Not later than 3 months
      after the first publication of a work preregistered under this
      subsection, the applicant shall submit to the Copyright Office -
          (A) an application for registration of the work;
          (B) a deposit; and
          (C) the applicable fee.
        (4) Effect of untimely application. - An action under this
      chapter for infringement of a work preregistered under this
      subsection, in a case in which the infringement commenced no
      later than 2 months after the first publication of the work,
      shall be dismissed if the items described in paragraph (3) are
      not submitted to the Copyright Office in proper form within the
      earlier of -
          (A) 3 months after the first publication of the work; or
          (B) 1 month after the copyright owner has learned of the
        infringement.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2580;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2859; Pub. L.
    102-307, title I, Sec. 102(e), June 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 266; Pub.
    L. 109-9, title I, Sec. 104(a), Apr. 27, 2005, 119 Stat. 221.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      Permissive Registration. Under section 408(a), registration of a
    claim to copyright in any work whether published or unpublished,
    can be made voluntarily by "the owner of copyright or of any
    exclusive right in the work" at any time during the copyright term.
    The claim may be registered in the Copyright Office by depositing
    the copies, phonorecords, or other material specified by subsection
    (b) and (c), together with an application and fee. Except where,
    under section 405(a), registration is made to preserve a copyright
    that would otherwise be invalidated because of omission of the
    notice, registration is not a condition of copyright protection.
      Deposit for Purpose of Copyright Registration. In general, and
    subject to various exceptions, the material to be deposited for
    copyright registration consists of one complete copy or phonorecord
    of an unpublished work, and two complete copies or phonorecords of
    the best edition in the case of a published work. Section 408(b)
    provides special deposit requirements in the case of a work first
    published abroad ("one complete copy or phonorecord as so
    published") and in the case of a contribution to a collective work
    ("one complete copy or phonorecord of the best edition of the
    collective work"). As a general rule the deposit of more than a
    tear sheet or similar fraction of a collective work is needed to
    identify the contribution properly and to show the form in which it
    was published. Where appropriate as in the case of collective works
    such as multivolume encyclopedias, multipart newspaper editions,
    and works that are rare or out of print, the regulations issued by
    the Register under section 408(c) can be expected to make
    exceptions or special provisions.
      With respect to works published in the United States, a single
    deposit could be used to satisfy the deposit requirements of
    section 407 and the registration requirements of section 408, if
    the application and fee for registration are submitted at the same
    time and are accompanied by "any additional identifying material"
    required by regulations. To serve this dual purpose the deposit and
    registration would have to be made simultaneously; if a deposit
    under section 407 had already been made, an additional deposit
    would be required under section 408. In addition, since deposit for
    the Library of Congress and registration of a claim to copyright
    serve essentially different functions, section 408(b) authorizes
    the Register of Copyrights to issue regulations under which deposit
    of additional material, needed for identification of the work in
    which copyright is claimed, could be required in certain cases.
      Administrative Classification. It is important that the statutory
    provisions setting forth the subject matter of copyright be kept
    entirely separate from any classification of copyrightable works
    for practical administrative purposes. Section 408(c)(1) thus
    leaves it to the Register of Copyrights to specify "the
    administrative classes into which works are to be placed for
    purposes of deposit and registration," and makes clear that this
    administrative classification "has no significance with respect to
    the subject matter of copyright or the exclusive rights provided by
    this title."
      Optional Deposit. Consistent with the principle of administrative
    flexibility underlying all of the deposit and registration
    provisions, subsection (c) of section 408 also gives the Register
    latitude in adjusting the type of material deposited to the needs
    of the registration system. The Register is authorized to issue
    regulations specifying "the nature of the copies of phonorecords to
    be deposited in the various classes" and, for particular classes,
    to require or permit deposit of identifying material rather than
    copies or phonorecords, deposit of one copy or phonorecord rather
    than two, or, in the case of a group of related works, a single
    rather than a number of separate registrations. Under this
    provision the Register could, where appropriate, permit deposit of
    phonorecords rather than notated copies of musical compositions,
    allow or require deposit of print-outs of computer programs under
    certain circumstances, or permit deposit of one volume of an
    encyclopedia for purposes of registration of a single contribution.
      Where the copies or phonorecords are bulky, unwieldy, easily
    broken, or otherwise impractical to file and retain as records
    identifying the work registered, the Register would be able to
    require or permit the substitute deposit of material that would
    better serve the purpose of identification. Cases of this sort
    might include, for example, billboard posters, toys and dolls,
    ceramics and glassware, costume jewelry, and a wide range of three-
    dimensional objects embodying copyrighted material. The Register's
    authority would also extend to rare or extremely valuable copies
    which would be burdensome or impossible to deposit. Deposit of one
    copy or phonorecord rather than two would probably be justifiable
    in the case of most motion pictures, and in any case where the
    Library of Congress has no need for the deposit and its only
    purpose is identification.
      The provision empowering the Register to allow a number of
    related works to be registered together as a group represents a
    needed and important liberalization of the law now in effect. At
    present the requirement for separate registrations where related
    works or parts of a work are published separately has created
    administrative problems and has resulted in unnecessary burdens and
    expenses on authors and other copyright owners. In a number of
    cases the technical necessity for separate applications and fees
    has caused copyright owners to forego copyright altogether.
    Examples of cases where these undesirable and unnecessary results
    could be avoided by allowing a single registration include the
    various editions or issues of a daily newspaper, a work published
    in serial installments, a group of related jewelry designs, a group
    of photographs by one photographer, a series of greeting cards
    related to each other in some way, or a group of poems by a single
    author.
      Single Registration. Section 408(c)(2) directs the Register of
    Copyrights to establish regulations permitting under certain
    conditions 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.
    It is required that each of the works as first published have a
    separate copyright notice, and that 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) is the same in each notice. It is further required that the
    deposit consist 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 is first published. Finally, the application shall
    identify each work separately, including the periodical containing
    it and its date of first publication.
      Section 408(c)(3) provides under certain conditions an
    alternative to the separate renewal registrations of subsection
    (a). If the specified conditions are met, 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. It is required that the renewal claimant or
    claimants, and the basis of claim or claims under section 304(a),
    is the same for each of the works; that 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; that the
    renewal application and fee are received not more than twenty-eight
    or less than twenty-seven years after December 31 of the calendar
    year in which all of the works were first published; and that the
    renewal application identifies each work separately, including the
    periodical containing it and its date of first publication.
      Corrections and Amplifications. Another unsatisfactory aspect of
    the present law is the lack of any provision for correcting or
    amplifying the information given in a completed registration.
    Subsection (d) of section 408 would remedy this by authorizing the
    Register to establish "formal procedures for the filing of an
    application for supplementary registration," in order to correct an
    error or amplify the information in a copyright registration. The
    "error" to be corrected under subsection (d) is an error by the
    applicant that the Copyright Office could not have been expected to
    note during its examination of the claim; where the error in a
    registration is the result of the Copyright Office's own mistake or
    oversight, the Office can make the correction on its own initiative
    and without recourse to the "supplementary registration" procedure.
      Under subsection (d), a supplementary registration is subject to
    payment of a separate fee and would be maintained as an independent
    record, separate and apart from the record of the earlier
    registration it is intended to supplement. However, it would be
    required to identify clearly "the registration to be corrected or
    amplified" so that the two registrations could be tied together by
    appropriate means in the Copyright Office records. The original
    registration would not be expunged or cancelled; as stated in the
    subsection: "The information contained in a supplementary
    registration augments but does not supersede that contained in the
    earlier registration."
      Published Edition of Previously Registered Work. The present
    statute requires that, where a work is registered in unpublished
    form, it must be registered again when it is published, whether or
    not the published edition contains any new copyrightable material.
    Under the bill there would be no need to make a second registration
    for the published edition unless it contains sufficient added
    material to be considered a "derivative work" or "compilation"
    under section 103.
      On the other hand, there will be a number of cases where the
    copyright owner, although not required to do so, would like to have
    registration made for the published edition of the work, especially
    since the owner will still be obliged to deposit copies or
    phonorecords of it in the Copyright Office under section 407. From
    the point of view of the public there are advantages in allowing
    the owner to do so, since registration for the published edition
    will put on record the facts about the work in the form in which it
    is actually distributed to the public. Accordingly, section 408(e),
    which is intended to accomplish this result, makes an exception to
    the general rule against allowing more than one registration for
    the same work.
-REFTEXT-
                            REFERENCES IN TEXT
      The date of enactment of this subsection, referred to in subsec.
    (f)(1), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 109-9, which was
    approved Apr. 27, 2005.
-MISC2-
                                AMENDMENTS
      2005 - Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 109-9 added subsec. (f).
      1992 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-307 substituted "At any time
    during the subsistence of the first term of copyright in any
    published or unpublished work in which the copyright was secured
    before January 1, 1978, and during the subsistence of any copyright
    secured on or after that date," for "At any time during the
    subsistence of copyright in any published or unpublished work,".
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a)(1), substituted
    "Such" for "Subject to the provisions of section 405(a), such".
      Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a)(2), substituted "the
    following conditions:" for "all of the following conditions - ",
    struck out subpar. (A) which read "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", and
    redesignated subpars. (B) and (C) as (A) and (B), respectively.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 102-307 effective June 26, 1992, but
    applicable only to copyrights secured between January 1, 1964, and
    December 31, 1977, and not affecting court proceedings pending on
    June 26, 1992, with copyrights secured before January 1, 1964,
    governed by section 304(a) of this title as in effect on the day
    before June 26, 1992, except each reference to forty-seven years in
    such provisions deemed to be 67 years, see section 102(g) of Pub.
    L. 102-307, as amended, set out as a note under section 101 of this
    title.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 409                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 409. Application for copyright registration
-STATUTE-
      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.
    If an application is submitted for the renewed and extended term
    provided for in section 304(a)(3)(A) and an original term
    registration has not been made, the Register may request
    information with respect to the existence, ownership, or duration
    of the copyright for the original term.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2582;
    Pub. L. 102-307, title I, Sec. 102(b)(1), June 26, 1992, 106 Stat.
    266.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      The various clauses of section 409, which specify the information
    to be included in an application for copyright registration, are
    intended to give the Register of Copyrights authority to elicit all
    of the information needed to examine the application and to make a
    meaningful record of registration. The list of enumerated items was
    not exhaustive; under the last clause of the section the
    application may also include "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."
      Among the enumerated items there are several that are not now
    included in the Copyright Office's application forms, but will
    become significant under the life-plus-50 term and other provisions
    of the bill. Clause (5), reflecting the increased importance of the
    interrelationship between registration of copyright claims and
    recordation of transfers of ownership, requires a statement of how
    a claimant who is not the author acquired ownership of the
    copyright. Clause (9) requires that, "in the case of a compilation
    or derivative work" the application include "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." It is intended that,
    under this requirement, the application covering a collection such
    as a song-book or hymnal would clearly reveal any works in the
    collection that are in the public domain, and the copyright status
    of all other previously-published compositions. This information
    will be readily available in the Copyright Office.
      The catch-all clause at the end of the section will enable the
    Register to obtain more specialized information, such as that
    bearing on whether the work contains material that is a "work of
    the United States Government." In the case of works subject to the
    manufacturing requirement, the application must also include
    information about the manufacture of the copies.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1992 - Pub. L. 102-307 inserted at end "If an application is
    submitted for the renewed and extended term provided for in section
    304(a)(3)(A) and an original term registration has not been made,
    the Register may request information with respect to the existence,
    ownership, or duration of the copyright for the original term."
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 102-307 effective June 26, 1992, but
    applicable only to copyrights secured between January 1, 1964, and
    December 31, 1977, and not affecting court proceedings pending on
    June 26, 1992, with copyrights secured before January 1, 1964,
    governed by section 304(a) of this title as in effect on the day
    before June 26, 1992, except each reference to forty-seven years in
    such provisions deemed to be 67 years, see section 102(g) of Pub.
    L. 102-307, as amended, set out as a note under section 101 of this
    title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 410                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 410. Registration of claim and issuance of certificate
-STATUTE-
      (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.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2582.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      The first two subsections of section 410 set forth the two basic
    duties of the Register of Copyrights with respect to copyright
    registration: (1) to register the claim and issue a certificate if
    the Register determines that "the material deposited constitutes
    copyrightable subject matter and that the other legal and formal
    requirements of this title have been met," and (2) to refuse
    registration and notify the applicant if the Register determines
    that "the material deposited does not constitute copyrightable
    subject matter or that the claim is invalid for any other reason."
      Subsection (c) deals with the probative effect of a certificate
    of registration issued by the Register under subsection (a). Under
    its provisions, a certificate is required to be given prima facie
    weight in any judicial proceedings if the registration it covers
    was made "before or within five years after first publication of
    the work"; thereafter the court is given discretion to decide what
    evidentiary weight the certificate should be accorded. This five-
    year period is based on a recognition that the longer the lapse of
    time between publication and registration the less likely to be
    reliable are the facts stated in the certificate.
      Under section 410(c), a certificate is to "constitute prima facie
    evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated
    in the certificate." The principle that a certificate represents
    prima facie evidence of copyright validity has been established in
    a long line of court decisions, and it is a sound one. It is true
    that, unlike a patent claim, a claim to copyright is not examined
    for basic validity before a certificate is issued. On the other
    hand, endowing a copyright claimant who has obtained a certificate
    with a rebuttable presumption of the validity of the copyright does
    not deprive the defendant in an infringement suit of any rights, it
    merely orders the burdens of proof. The plaintiff should not
    ordinarily be forced in the first instance to prove all of the
    multitude of facts that underline the validity of the copyright
    unless the defendant, by effectively challenging them, shifts the
    burden of doing so to the plaintiff.
      Section 410(d), which is in accord with the present practice of
    the Copyright Office, makes the effective date of registration the
    day when 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. Where the three necessary elements are received at
    different times the date of receipt of the last of them is
    controlling, regardless of when the Copyright Office acts on the
    claim. The provision not only takes account of the inevitable
    timelag between receipt of the application and other material and
    the issuance of the certificate, but it also recognizes the
    possibility that a court might later find the Register wrong in
    refusing registration.
    REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHTS AND RECORDATION OF ASSIGNMENTS
     OF COPYRIGHTS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS UNDER PREDECESSOR PROVISIONS
      Section 109 of Pub. L. 94-553 provided that: "The registration of
    claims to copyright for which the required deposit, application,
    and fee were received in the Copyright Office before January 1,
    1978, and the recordation of assignments of copyright or other
    instruments received in the Copyright Office before January 1,
    1978, shall be made in accordance with title 17 as it existed on
    December 31, 1977."
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 411                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 411. Registration and infringement actions
-STATUTE-
      (a) Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of
    the author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of
    subsection (b), no action for infringement of the copyright in any
    United States work shall be instituted until preregistration or
    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 -
        (1) serves notice upon the infringer, not less than 48 hours
      before such fixation, identifying the work and the specific time
      and source of its first transmission, and declaring an intention
      to secure copyright in the work; and
        (2) makes registration for the work, if required by subsection
      (a), within three months after its first transmission.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2583;
    Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(b)(1), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2859; Pub.
    L. 101-650, title VI, Sec. 606(c)(1), Dec. 1, 1990, 104 Stat. 5131;
    Pub. L. 105-80, Sec. 6, Nov. 13, 1997, 111 Stat. 1532; Pub. L. 105-
    304, title I, Sec. 102(d), Oct. 28, 1998, 112 Stat. 2863; Pub. L.
    109-9, title I, Sec. 104(b), Apr. 27, 2005, 119 Stat. 222.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      The first sentence of section 411(a) restates the present
    statutory requirement that registration must be made before a suit
    for copyright infringement is instituted. Under the bill, as under
    the law now in effect, a copyright owner who has not registered his
    claim can have a valid cause of action against someone who has
    infringed his copyright, but he cannot enforce his rights in the
    courts until he has made registration.
      The second and third sentences of section 411(a) would alter the
    present law as interpreted in Vacheron & Constantin-Le Coultre
    Watches, Inc. v. Benrus Watch Co., 260 F.2d 637 (2d Cir. 1958).
    That case requires an applicant, who has sought registration and
    has been refused, to bring an action against the Register of
    Copyrights to compel the issuance of a certificate, before suit can
    be brought against an infringer. Under section 411, a rejected
    claimant who has properly applied for registration may maintain an
    infringement suit if notice of it is served on the Register of
    Copyrights. The Register is authorized, though not required, to
    enter the suit within 60 days; the Register would be a party on the
    issue of registrability only, and a failure by the Register to join
    the action would "not deprive the court of jurisdiction to
    determine that issue."
      Section 411(b) is intended to deal with the special situation
    presented by works that are being transmitted "live" at the same
    time they are being fixed in tangible form for the first time.
    Under certain circumstances, where the infringer has been given
    advance notice, an injunction could be obtained to prevent the
    unauthorized use of the material included in the "live"
    transmission.
                                AMENDMENTS
      2005 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109-9 inserted "preregistration or"
    after "shall be instituted until".
      1998 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 105-304, in first sentence, struck
    out "actions for infringement of copyright in Berne Convention
    works whose country of origin is not the United States and" after
    "Except for" and inserted "United States" after "copyright in any".
      1997 - Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 105-80 amended par. (1) generally.
    Prior to amendment, par. (1) read as follows: "serves notice upon
    the infringer, not less than ten or more than thirty days before
    such fixation, identifying the work and the specific time and
    source of its first transmission, and declaring an intention to
    secure copyright in the work; and".
      1990 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101-650 inserted "and an action
    brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section
    106A(a)" after "United States".
      1988 - Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(b)(1)(A), substituted
    "Registration and infringement actions" for "Registration as
    prerequisite to infringement suit" in section catchline.
      Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(b)(1)(B), substituted
    "Except for actions for infringement of copyright in Berne
    Convention works whose country of origin is not the United States,
    and subject" for "Subject".
      Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(b)(1)(C), substituted
    "work, if required by subsection (a)," for "work".
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1990 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 101-650 effective 6 months after Dec. 1,
    1990, see section 610 of Pub. L. 101-650, set out as an Effective
    Date note under section 106A of this title.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1988 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any
    cause of action arising under this title before such date being
    governed by provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see
    section 13 of Pub. L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101
    of this title.
-End-
-CITE-
    17 USC Sec. 412                                             01/03/2007
-EXPCITE-
    TITLE 17 - COPYRIGHTS
    CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
-HEAD-
    Sec. 412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for
      infringement
-STATUTE-
      In any action under this title, other than an action brought for
    a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a), an
    action for infringement of the copyright of a work that has been
    preregistered under section 408(f) before the commencement of the
    infringement and that has an effective date of registration not
    later than the earlier of 3 months after the first publication of
    the work or 1 month after the copyright owner has learned of the
    infringement, or an action instituted under section 411(b), no
    award of statutory damages or of attorney's fees, as provided by
    sections 504 and 505, shall be made for -
        (1) any infringement of copyright in an unpublished work
      commenced before the effective date of its registration; or
        (2) any infringement of copyright commenced after first
      publication of the work and before the effective date of its
      registration, unless such registration is made within three
      months after the first publication of the work.
-SOURCE-
    (Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2583;
    Pub. L. 101-650, title VI, Sec. 606(c)(2), Dec. 1, 1990, 104 Stat.
    5131; Pub. L. 109-9, title I, Sec. 104(c), Apr. 27, 2005, 119 Stat.
    222.)
-MISC1-
                       HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
                         HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
      The need for section 412 arises from two basic changes the bill
    will make in the present law.
        (1) Copyright registration for published works, which is useful
      and important to users and the public at large, would no longer
      be compulsory, and should therefore be induced in some practical
      way.
        (2) The great body of unpublished works now protected at common
      law would automatically be brought under copyright and given
      statutory protection. The remedies for infringement presently
      available at common law should continue to apply to these works
      under the statute, but they should not be given special statutory
      remedies unless the owner has, by registration, made a public
      record of his copyright claim.
      Under the general scheme of the bill, a copyright owner whose
    work has been infringed before registration would be entitled to
    the remedies ordinarily available in infringement cases: an
    injunction on terms the court considers fair, and his actual
    damages plus any applicable profits not used as a measure of
    damages. However, section 412 would deny any award of the special
    or "extraordinary" remedies of statutory damages or attorney's fees
    where infringement of copyright in an unpublished work began before
    registration or where, in the case of a published work,
    infringement commenced after publication and before registration
    (unless registration has been made within a grace period of three
    months after publication). These provisions would be applicable to
    works of foreign and domestic origin alike.
      In providing that statutory damages and attorney's fees are not
    recoverable for infringement of unpublished, unregistered works,
    clause (1) of section 412 in no way narrows the remedies available
    under the present law. With respect to published works, clause (2)
    would generally deny an award of those two special remedies where
    infringement takes place before registration. As an exception,
    however, the clause provides a grace period of three months after
    publication during which registration can be made without loss of
    remedies; full remedies could be recovered for any infringement
    begun during the three months after publication if registration is
    made before that period has ended. This exception is needed to take
    care of newsworthy or suddenly popular works which may be infringed
    almost as soon as they are published, before the copyright owner
    has had a reasonable opportunity to register his claim.
                                AMENDMENTS
      2005 - Pub. L. 109-9 inserted ", an action for infringement of
    the copyright of a work that has been preregistered under section
    408(f) before the commencement of the infringement and that has an
    effective date of registration not later than the earlier of 3
    months after the first publication of the work or 1 month after the
    copyright owner has learned of the infringement," after "section
    106A(a)" in introductory provisions.
      1990 - Pub. L. 101-650 inserted "an action brought for a
    violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a) or"
    after "other than" in introductory provisions.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1990 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 101-650 effective 6 months after Dec. 1,
    1990, see section 610 of Pub. L. 101-650, set out as an Effective
    Date note under section 106A of this title.
-End-