Re: SXMACLIB

"Yes, as amended by Congress in 1989 to
conform to the Berne convention, thus
making things copyright by default."

No, as amended by Congress in 1976. The prior law was dated 1909.

"*The Nation's first copyright statute, enacted in 1790*, provided a
federal copyright term of 14 years from the date of publication, renewable
for an additional 14 years if the author survived the first term. Act of
May 31, 1790, ch. 15, § 1, 1 Stat. 124 (1790 Act). The 1790 Act's renewable
14-year term applied to existing works (*i. e.,* works already published
and works created but not yet published) and future works alike.
*Ibid.* *Congress
expanded the federal copyright term to 42 years in 1831* (28 years from
publication, renewable for an additional 14 years), *and to 56 years in
1909* (28 years from publication, renewable for an additional 28 years).
Act of Feb. 3, 1831, ch. 16, §§ 1, 16, 4 Stat. 436, 439 (1831 Act); Act of
Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 320, §§ 23-24, 35 Stat. 1080-1081 (1909 Act). Both times,
Congress applied the new copyright term to existing and future works, 1831
Act §§ 1, 16; 1909 Act §§ 23-24; to qualify for the 1831 extension, an
existing work had to be in its initial copyright term at the time the Act
became effective, 1831 Act §§ 1, 16."

"*In 1976,* *Congress altered the method* for computing federal copyright
terms. 1976 Act §§ 302-304. For works created by identified natural
persons, *the 1976 Act provided that federal copyright protection would run
from the work's creation,* *not—as in the 1790, 1831, and 1909 Acts—its
publication; *protection would last until 50 years after the author's
death. § 302(a). In these respects, *the 1976 Act aligned United States
copyright terms with the then-dominant international standard adopted under
the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works.*
See H. R. Rep. No. 94-1476, p. 135 (1976). For anonymous works,
pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, the 1976 Act provided a term
of 75 years from publication or 100 years from creation, whichever expired
first. § 302(c)."

"These new copyright terms, the 1976 Act instructed, *governed all works
not published by its effective date of January 1, 1978*, *regardless of
when the works were created*. §§ 302-303."

So, as the Supreme Court has said:

1. In 1976, Congress altered copyright law from publication to creation.
2. The 1976 alteration made the USA compliant with the Berne Convention in
1976.
3. Anything not published by January 1, 1978 was covered by the new
copyright law.

Joe

On Sat, Sep 28, 2019 at 4:40 PM kerravon86-/[email protected] [H390-MVS] <
[email protected]> wrote:

>
>
> ---In [email protected], <joemonk64@...> wrote :
>
> >>> "The latest" is a reference to post-1989 Berne
> >>> convention, where indeed, you get copyright
> >>> on creation.
>
> >> (a) Under the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended,
>
> > As amended by what? 1989 Berne?
>
> > By Congress. Here in the US, only Congress can amend a law.
>
> Yes, as amended by Congress in 1989 to
> conform to the Berne convention, thus
> making things copyright by default.
>
> You don't need "the latest", which is
> post-Berne, you need a pre-Berne
> ruling that says things are copyright
> even though they have no copyright
> notice.
>
> BFN. Paul.
> 
>