The Copyright Notice Requirement - Deliberate Omission of Notice

Authors

Warren L. Patton
John C. Hogan

Abstract

This article discusses the effect, under the current Copyright Act, of deliberate omission of copyright notice from a published work. The authors assert that although Congress intended to minimize the significance of the notice requirement in the new statute, an ambiguity in the statutory language has resulted in an uncertainty about the copyright status of a work when the author deliberately omits the copyright notice. The article discusses the conflict between Professor Nimmer's opinion on the issue and the decision of a federal district court in O'Neill Development, Inc. v. Galen Kilburn, Inc. The authors conclude that notice within five years should validate a copyright, even where the omission of notice was deliberate.

Recommended Citation

Warren L. Patton and John C. Hogan, The Copyright Notice Requirement - Deliberate Omission of Notice, 5 UC Law SF Comm. & Ent. L.J. 225 (1982).
Available at: https://repository.uclawsf.edu/hastings_comm_ent_law_journal/vol5/iss2/2