Agreements Act (URAA)."


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USE OF THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE
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Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United
States to authors of "original works of authorship." When a work is
published under the authority of the copyright owner (see definition of
"publication" below), a notice of copyright may be placed on all
publicly distributed copies or phonorecords. The use of the notice is
the responsibility of the copyright owner and does not require
permission from, or registration with, the Copyright Office.

Use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that
the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and
shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the event that a
work is infringed, if the work carries a proper notice, the court will
not *give any weight to a defendant's interposition of an innocent
infringement defense*--that is, that he or she did not realize that the
work was protected. An innocent infringement defense may result in a
reduction in damages that the copyright owner would otherwise receive.

For works first published on and after March 1, 1989, use of the
copyright notice is optional. Before March 1, 1989, the use of the
notice was mandatory on all published works. Omitting the notice on any
work first published before that date could result in the loss of
copyright protection if corrective steps are not taken within a certain
amount of time. The curative steps are described in this circular under