Intellectual Property Law

Chapter 13 Putting It Into Words Solution

A client is aware of the fact that there is no longer any requirement for a work to include
a notice of copyright. Draft a brief paragraph explaining why including the notice is still
advised even though its use is optional.

As you know, use of a copyright notice for any work published after March
1, 1989, is optional. Nevertheless, we recommend that you include a
copyright notice on all of your works. Use of the notice informs the public
that the work is protected by copyright and identifies you as the owner of the
work. If an individual would like to obtain a license to use your work, he/she
would be able to determine copyright ownership and then search the records
of the Copyright Office to determine how to contact you in order to negotiate
for such a license. Moreover, if a work is infringed and a proper notice of
copyright appears on the work (and the defendant had access to the work),
the defendant cannot assert that his/her infringement was innocent. A
successful innocent infringement defense may result in a reduction of
damages. Thus, for the widest possible scope of protection, we recommend
that you use a copyright notice on any of your works in the following form: ©
2015 John Doe.