| abstract | - The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under copyright law, although it is often beneficial. Because prior law did contain such a requirement, however, the use of notice is still relevant to the copyright status of older works. Notice was required under the 1976 Copyright Act. This requirement was eliminated when the adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989. Section 401(a) of the current Copyright Act provides: Although works published without notice before that date could have entered the public domain in the United States, the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) restored copyright protection for certain foreign works originally published without notice. Use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the event that a work is the subject of infringement, if a proper notice of copyright 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 Section 504(c)(2) of the 1976 Copyright Act. The use of the copyright notice is the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require advance permission from, or copyright registration with the Copyright Office.
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