17 U.S.C. § 406 : US Code - Section 406: Notice of copyright: Error in name or date on certain copies and phonorecords

Search 17 U.S.C. § 406 : US Code - Section 406: Notice of copyright: Error in name or date on certain copies and phonorecords

(a) Error in Name. - With respect to copies and phonorecords
publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner before the
effective date of the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988,
where the person named in the copyright notice on copies or
phonorecords publicly distributed by authority of the copyright
owner is not the owner of copyright, the validity and ownership of
the copyright are not affected. In such a case, however, any person
who innocently begins an undertaking that infringes the copyright
has a complete defense to any action for such infringement if such
person proves that he or she was misled by the notice and began the
undertaking in good faith under a purported transfer or license
from the person named therein, unless before the undertaking was
begun -
(1) registration for the work had been made in the name of the
owner of copyright; or
(2) a document executed by the person named in the notice and
showing the ownership of the copyright had been recorded.
The person named in the notice is liable to account to the
copyright owner for all receipts from transfers or licenses
purportedly made under the copyright by the person named in the
notice.
(b) Error in Date. - When the year date in the notice on copies
or phonorecords distributed before the effective date of the Berne
Convention Implementation Act of 1988 by authority of the copyright
owner is earlier than the year in which publication first occurred,
any period computed from the year of first publication under
section 302 is to be computed from the year in the notice. 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 and is governed by the provisions of
section 405.
(c) Omission of Name or Date. - Where copies or phonorecords
publicly distributed before the effective date of the Berne
Convention Implementation Act of 1988 by authority of the copyright
owner contain no name or no date that could reasonably be
considered a part of the notice, the work is considered to have
been published without any notice and is governed by the provisions
of section 405 as in effect on the day before the effective date of
the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988.