2205.1 (D) Postdated Notice: Date in the Notice Later than the Actual Year of First Publication
A postdated notice is a notice that contains a date that is later than the year that the work was first published.
Example:
• A song book first published in 1985 with a postdated notice that reads: “Copyright 1986 Arpeggio Music.”
If a work was publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner with a postdated notice between January 1, 1978 and February 28, 1989, it is considered an error in the date. 17 U.S.C. § 406 (B), (C).
If the date in the notice is no more than one year later than the date of publication specified in the application, the registration specialist generally will register the claim without communicating with the applicant, although he or she will add an annotation to the record, such as: “Regarding publication: Year date in notice .”
If a U.S. work was publicly distributed by authority of the copyright owner between January 1, 1978 and February 28, 1989, and if the date in the notice is two or more years later than the year in which the work was first published, the U.S. Copyright Office considers the work to be published without any notice. If the work is submitted for registration more than five years after the date of first publication, the registration specialist will refuse to register the claim if he or she determines that the work is a U.S. work.
NOTE: This policy equally applies to certain works of visual art, such as jewelry, dolls, or toys that contain a postdated notice, notwithstanding the fact that a year date is not required in the notice for such works.