Shop by Category
My Briefcase
Your briefcase is empty.
0Items in briefcase:
$0.00Total:
$0.00Total:
Mailing List
Sign up for our FREE monthly newsletter and periodic special offers.
Protecting your Copyright with a Copyright Notice
The important thing to remember is that there is no legal substitute for copyright notice. It costs nothing to use and you don't need permission from anyone to use it. However, not using notice on any work that leaves your hands can be considered foolish.
When notice is required
Foolish though it may be to fail to use copyright notice, it must be said that copyright notice is not required for any work published after March 1, 1989. That is the date the United States' entry into the Berne Convention became effective. The Berne Convention is a very old and widespread copyright treaty that the United States became a signatory to in late 1988 for a variety of complicated reasons. One reason was that the Berne Convention signatory countries may not require as a condition to copyright protect any "formalities," such as using copyright notice.
However, the copyrights in the works published before 1978 (the effective date of the current copyright statute) may be lost in the United States if notice is not used.
Benefits of using notice
The short of this long story is that you can't lose copyright protection for any work published after March 1, 1989, by failing to use copyright notice. However, in order to encourage the use of copyright notice in the Untied States, the law provides a valuable procedural advantage in the infringement lawsuits to copyright owners who do use it. Specifically, an infringer cannot successfully claim that he or she did not know that his or her act constituted copyright infringement if the copyright owner has used proper copyright notice. Being able to prove that a defendant willfully ignored such clear evidence that the plaintiff's work was protected by copyright has the effect of increasing the potential damages award available to a plaintiff. This is because courts are typically much harder on defendants who have intentionally violated plaintiffs' rights.
That takes care of people dishonest enough to ignore copyright notice. Using copyright notice also precludes the possibility that honest people, seeing no copyright notice, will believe that your work is free for anyone to use. Even after the Berne Convention, copyright notice remains one of the most useful tools for protecting your copyright.
Placement of copyright notice
Copyright notice does not have to be obtrusive. Copyright Office regulations only specify that notice be placed in a durable form affixed in a permanent manner and in a location on the work where it is reasonably easy to discover.
For works published in book form, acceptable locations for copyright notice include the title page, the page following the title page, either side of the front or back cover and the first or last page of the main body of the book.
For motion pictures and other audiovisual works, notice should be embodied in the film or tape as part of the image itself so that it will appear whenever the work is played or broadcast or otherwise performed. It may be located with or near the title or credits or immediately following the beginning of the work or at or immediately preceding the end of the work.
If the audiovisual work lasts sixty seconds or less, copyright notice may appear in any of the locations specified above or on the leader of the film or tape immediately preceding the work if the notice is embodied there electronically or mechanically (that is, is not simply written by hand on the leader). For audiovisual works or motion pictures distributed to the public for private use, such as movie videotapes, notice may also appear on the permanent container for the work.
For pictorial, graphic or sculptural works embodied in two-dimensional copies, copyright notice should be affixed directly, durably and permanently to the front or back of the copies or to the backing, mounting or framing to which the copies are attached. For such works embodied in three-dimensional copies, notice should be affixed directly, durably and permanently to any visible portion of the work or any base, mounting, framing or other material to which the copies are attached. If, because of the nature of the work, it is impracticable to affix notice to the copies directly or by means of a durable label, notice may appear on a tag or durable label that is designed to remain attached to the copy.
For copies of sound recordings, such as audiotapes, cassettes and records, copyright notice should appear on the surface of the copy of the sound recording and on the container of the copy. This will give reasonable notice to an observer of the claim of copyright ownership.
Protecting your Copyright with a Copyright Notice
Although the law no longer requires copyright notice, it is an important tool in protecting your copyright. It is like a "No Trespassing" sign--notifying the world that you claim ownership of the copyright to the work that it is affixed to. The three elements of copyright notice are:
- The word "copyright" (that is C-O-P-Y-R-I-G-H-T, not "copywrite"), the abbreviation "Copr." or the © symbol (or, in the case of a sound recording, the [p] symbol). Even though it is often used by people who attempt to create the © symbol on a typewriter, the symbol (c) is not the equivalent of the © symbol. If you can't produce the © symbol, use the word "copyright" instead, or draw the © symbol by hand. However, don't use parentheses in lieu of the circle because it's not the same thing. Because the word "copyright" and the abbreviation "Copr." are not recognized as valid elements of copyright notice in some countries, it is preferable to use the © symbol if your work will or may be distributed outside the United States.
- The year of "first publication" of the work. For compilations or derivative works, the year of first publication of the compilation or derivative work should be used. "Publication" is defined as "the distribution of copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending." However, the year-date of first publication may be omitted from copyright notice when a pictorial, graphic or sculptural work, with any accompanying text, is reproduced on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys or other useful articles.
- The name of the owner of the copyright or an abbreviation or alternate name by which that copyright owner is generally recognized. For example, International Business Machines, Incorporated, can call itself "IBM" for purposes of copyright notice. However, when in doubt, use the form of your legal name that you commonly use for other formal purposes, e.g., "Aaron L. Bowers" rather than "Sonny Bowers." If two or more people or other entities own the copyright, use all their names: "© 1998 Charles Dennis Wile and Christopher Lawrence Fort." Further, bear in mind that the author of the work may no longer be the owner of copyright in it.
The important thing to remember is that there is no legal substitute for copyright notice. It costs nothing to use and you don't need permission from anyone to use it. However, not using notice on any work that leaves your hands can be considered foolish.
When notice is required
Foolish though it may be to fail to use copyright notice, it must be said that copyright notice is not required for any work published after March 1, 1989. That is the date the United States' entry into the Berne Convention became effective. The Berne Convention is a very old and widespread copyright treaty that the United States became a signatory to in late 1988 for a variety of complicated reasons. One reason was that the Berne Convention signatory countries may not require as a condition to copyright protect any "formalities," such as using copyright notice.
However, the copyrights in the works published before 1978 (the effective date of the current copyright statute) may be lost in the United States if notice is not used.
Benefits of using notice
The short of this long story is that you can't lose copyright protection for any work published after March 1, 1989, by failing to use copyright notice. However, in order to encourage the use of copyright notice in the Untied States, the law provides a valuable procedural advantage in the infringement lawsuits to copyright owners who do use it. Specifically, an infringer cannot successfully claim that he or she did not know that his or her act constituted copyright infringement if the copyright owner has used proper copyright notice. Being able to prove that a defendant willfully ignored such clear evidence that the plaintiff's work was protected by copyright has the effect of increasing the potential damages award available to a plaintiff. This is because courts are typically much harder on defendants who have intentionally violated plaintiffs' rights.
That takes care of people dishonest enough to ignore copyright notice. Using copyright notice also precludes the possibility that honest people, seeing no copyright notice, will believe that your work is free for anyone to use. Even after the Berne Convention, copyright notice remains one of the most useful tools for protecting your copyright.
Placement of copyright notice
Copyright notice does not have to be obtrusive. Copyright Office regulations only specify that notice be placed in a durable form affixed in a permanent manner and in a location on the work where it is reasonably easy to discover.
For works published in book form, acceptable locations for copyright notice include the title page, the page following the title page, either side of the front or back cover and the first or last page of the main body of the book.
For motion pictures and other audiovisual works, notice should be embodied in the film or tape as part of the image itself so that it will appear whenever the work is played or broadcast or otherwise performed. It may be located with or near the title or credits or immediately following the beginning of the work or at or immediately preceding the end of the work.
If the audiovisual work lasts sixty seconds or less, copyright notice may appear in any of the locations specified above or on the leader of the film or tape immediately preceding the work if the notice is embodied there electronically or mechanically (that is, is not simply written by hand on the leader). For audiovisual works or motion pictures distributed to the public for private use, such as movie videotapes, notice may also appear on the permanent container for the work.
For pictorial, graphic or sculptural works embodied in two-dimensional copies, copyright notice should be affixed directly, durably and permanently to the front or back of the copies or to the backing, mounting or framing to which the copies are attached. For such works embodied in three-dimensional copies, notice should be affixed directly, durably and permanently to any visible portion of the work or any base, mounting, framing or other material to which the copies are attached. If, because of the nature of the work, it is impracticable to affix notice to the copies directly or by means of a durable label, notice may appear on a tag or durable label that is designed to remain attached to the copy.
For copies of sound recordings, such as audiotapes, cassettes and records, copyright notice should appear on the surface of the copy of the sound recording and on the container of the copy. This will give reasonable notice to an observer of the claim of copyright ownership.