612.7 (C) Nation of Publication Given in a Paper Application without a Date of Publication
If the applicant provides a nation of first publication on a paper application, but fails to provide a date of first publication, the registration specialist may remove the country name from the registration record and register the work as unpublished (provided that the work appears to be unpublished). In such cases, the specialist will add an annotation to the registration record to document this change.
Example:
• The U.S. Copyright Office receives a paper application, along with one copy or phonorecord of the work. The applicant states that the work was published in the United States, but fails to provide a date of publication. The deposit copy is handwritten or homemade (such as a CDR deposited for a claim in music and sound recording). The registration specialist may register the claim without communicating with the applicant. In this situation, the specialist will remove the nation of first publication from the application, and will add an annotation, such as: “Regarding publication: Application gives nation of publication but no publication date; registered as unpublished.”