1000-14
1010
Error in date. Where the year date is required, the notice of copyright should contain the year of first publication of the work. See 17 U.S.C. 401(b)(2) and 402(b)(2). The notice provisions of these sections apply to all copies or phonorecords publicly distributed on or after January 1, 1978. See section 108 of the Transitional and Supplementary Provisions of the current Act. For works which were registered as unpublished before January 1, 1978, and first published after that date, the copyright notice should contain the year date in which copyright was secured by registration in unpublished form. See also Chapter 900: PUBLICATION.
1010.01
Earlier date. Generally, the use in the notice of a year date that is earlier than the year in which publication first occurred does not affect the validity of the copyright. See 17 U.S.C. 406(b). However, the use of an earlier date does affect the duration of copyright for anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, whose copyright term is computed under 17 U.S.C. 302(c). In such cases, the term is computed from the year date appearing in the notice rather than from the actual year of first publication. See section 1006.03 of this chapter for the Copyright Office practice regarding an earlier year date in the notice.
1010.02
Later date. The use in the notice of a year date that is later than the year in which publication first occurred does not result in the immediate loss of copyright. See 17 U.S.C. 406(b). However, where the year date is more than one year later than the year in which publication first occurred, the work is considered to have been published without any notice. See 17 U.S.C. 405; see also section 1006.04 of this chapter for the Copyright Office practice regarding a later year date in the notice.
[1984]
