Searches Not Always Conclusive

Searches of the Copyright Office catalogs and records are useful in
helping to determine the copyright status of a work, but they cannot be
regarded as conclusive in all cases. The complete absence of any
information about a work in the Office records does not mean that the
work is unprotected. The following are examples of cases in which
information about a particular work may be incomplete or lacking entirely
in the Copyright Office:

+ Before 1978, unpublished works were entitled to protection under
common law without the need of registration.

+ Works published with notice prior to 1978 may be registered at any
time within the first 28-year term.

+ Works copyrighted between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977, are
affected by the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992, which automatically
extends the copyright term and makes renewal registrations optional.

+ For works under copyright protection on or after January 1, 1978,
registration may be made at any time during the term of protection.
Although registration is not required as a condition of copyright
protection, there are certain definite advantages to registration. For
further information, request Circular 1, "Copyright Basics."

+ Since searches are ordinarily limited to registrations that have
already been cataloged, a search report may not cover recent
registrations for which catalog records are not yet available.