'©' or the word 'Copyright' or abbreviation 'Copr.'.

In the United States, the copyright notice consists of: The formulation of the 1909 Act was left unchanged when it was incorporated in 1946 as title 17 of the United States Code.Ī 1954 amendment to the law extended the use of the symbol to any published copyrighted work: the symbol was allowed as an alternative to 'Copyright' or 'Copr.' in all copyright notices. Indeed, the version of the bill that was submitted to Congress in 1906, compiled by the Copyright Commission under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, contained a provision that a special copyright symbol, the letter C inclosed within a circle, could be used instead of the word 'copyright' or the abbreviation 'copr.', but only for a limited category of copyrightable works, including works of art but not ordinary books or periodicals.

As a compromise, the possibility was created to add a relatively unintrusive mark, the capital letter C within a circle, to appear on the work itself next to the artist's name, indicating the existence of a more elaborate copyright notice elsewhere that was still to be allowed to be placed on the mounting. In conference sessions among copyright stakeholders on the proposed bill, conducted in 19, representatives of artist organizations objected to this requirement, wishing to put no more on the work itself than the artist's name. This included paintings, the argument being that the frame was detachable. As originally proposed in the draft of the bill, copyright protection required putting the word 'copyright' or a sanctioned abbreviation on the work of art itself. The Copyright Act of 1909 was meant to be a complete rewrite and overhaul of existing copyright law. The copyright symbol © was introduced in the United States in section 18 of the Copyright Act of 1909, and initially applied only to pictorial, graphic and sculptural works. The Copyright Act was amended in 1874 to allow a much shortened notice: 'Copyright, 18, by A. B.' It was lengthy: 'Entered according to act of Congress, in the year, by A. B., in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.' In general, this notice had to appear on the copyrighted work itself, but in the case of a 'work of the fine arts', such as a painting, it could instead be inscribed 'on the face of the substance on which shall be mounted'.

Ī copyright notice was first required in the U.S. Prior symbols indicating a work's copyright status are seen in Scottish almanacs of the 1670s books included a printed copy of the local coat-of-arms to indicate their authenticity. copyright law, but its presence or absence is legally significant on works published before that date, and it continues to affect remedies available to a copyright holder whose work is infringed. In the United States, the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, effective March 1, 1989, removed the requirement for the copyright symbol from U.S.

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