| Copyright protection in the United States is automatic upon the fixation of an original work of authorship. The use of the copyright notice and the registration of a work are referred to as formalities, which are the procedural requirements for securing and maintaining full copyright protection, and were formerly requirements for copyright protection. Some of the most sweeping changes under the 1976 Copyright Act involve copyright formalities.
Reduction of Formalities
In general, while retaining formalities, the 1976 law reduced the chances of mistakes, softened the consequences of errors and omissions, and allowed for the correction of errors. The Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 reduced formalities, most notably making the addition of the previously mandatory copyright notice optional.
Notice Requirements
There are three elements involved in the notice requirement:
1. the claim of copyright;
2. the year of first publication; and
3. the name of the copyright owner, or an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized or a generally known alternative designation of the owner.
Deposit requirements
Deposit and registration under the Copyright Act are separate though closely related. The function of deposit is to provide the Library of Congress via the Copyright Office with copies and phonorecords of all works published within the United States. Deposit may be accomplished without an accompanying registration. Deposit is required within three months after the date of publication within the United States of a copyrighted work.
Registration requirements
The function of registration is to create a written record of the copyright ownership in a work. Registration necessarily requires an accompanying deposit. To register a copyright claim, an author or other copyright owner must submit a deposit of the copyrighted material, a completed application form, and an application fee to the Copyright Office.
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