Under the law in effect before 1978, copyright was secured either on the
date a work was published with notice of copyright or on the date of
registration if the work was registered in unpublished form. In either
case, copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date on
which it was secured. During the last (28th) year of the first term, the
copyright was eligible for renewal. The copyright law extends the renewal
term from 28 to 67 years for copyrights in existence on January 1, 1978.

However, for works copyrighted prior to January 1, 1964, the copyright
still must have been renewed in the 28th calendar year to receive the
67-year period of added protection. The amending legislation enacted June
26, 1992, automatically extends this second term for works first
copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. For more
detailed information on the copyright term, write or call the Copyright
Office and request Circular 15a, "Duration of Copyright," and Circular
15t, "Extension of Copyright Terms."

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WORKS FIRST PUBLISHED BEFORE 1978: THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE
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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE

In investigating the copyright status of works first published before
January 1, 1978, the most important thing to look for is the notice of
copyright. As a general rule under the previous law, copyright protection
was lost permanently if the notice was omitted from the first authorized
published edition of a work or if it appeared in the wrong form or
position. The form and position of the copyright notice for various types
of works were specified in the copyright statute. Some courts were
liberal in overlooking relatively minor departures from the statutory
requirements, but a basic failure to comply with the notice provisions
forfeited copyright protection and put the work into the public domain in
this country.

ABSENCE OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE

For works first published before 1978, the complete absence of a
copyright notice from a published copy generally indicates that the work
is not protected by copyright. For works first published before March 1,
1989, the copyright notice is mandatory, but omission could have been
cured by registration before or within 5 years of publication and by
adding the notice to copies published in the United States after
discovery of the omission. So