January 1, 1978, the most important thing to look for is the notice of
copyright. As a general rule under the previous law, copyright protection
was lost permanently if the notice was omitted from the first authorized
published edition of a work or if it appeared in the wrong form or
position. The form and position of the copyright notice for various types
of works were specified in the copyright statute. Some courts were
liberal in overlooking relatively minor departures from the statutory
requirements, but a basic failure to comply with the notice provisions
forfeited copyright protection and put the work into the public domain in
this country.


ABSENCE OF COPYRIGHT NOTICE

For works first published before 1978, the complete absence of a
copyright notice from a published copy generally indicates that the work
is not protected by copyright. For works first published before March 1,
1989, the copyright notice is mandatory, but omission could have been
cured by registration before or within 5 years of publication and by
adding the notice to copies published in the United States after
discovery of the omission. Some works may contain a notice, others may
not. The absence of a notice in works published on or after March 1,
1989, does not necessarily indicate that the work is in the public
domain.

UNPUBLISHED WORKS. No notice of copyright was required on the copies of
any unpublished work. The concept of "publication" is very technical, and
it was possible for a number of copies lacking a copyright notice to be
reproduced and distributed without affecting copyright protection.