File:Adam Rich 1977 photo.jpg

All versions of and other unscanned portions of the back of this photo do not display the copyright notice. This photo was released under the Copyright Act of 1909, and, under the 1909 Act, the copyright notice was required and must contain three elements:

1. The symbol © (letter C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; or the abbreviation “Copr.”
2. "The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles."

   This was not required for copyrighted photos published before 1978 under Copyright Act 1909, and omission of date may have been irrelevant to such works. Omission of year is permitted for pre-1978 works. Publication with notice (year or no year) secures copyright. Unpublished pre-1978 photos may have been registered and still count as "published", even if unpublished.

3. The name of the copyright owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of owner.

   Example © 2007 Jane Doe.

See http://www.copyright.gov/history/1909act.pdf for older rules that apply to pre-1978 works without required notice. See more at Appendix A of the Copyright Act of 1976: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92appa.pdf.

Film production expert Eve Light Honthaner in The Complete Film Production Handbook, (Focal Press, 2001 p. 211.):

The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook By Nancy E. Wolff, Allworth Communications, 2007, p. 55:

Creative Clearance-Publicity photos archive copy at the Wayback Machine"

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1929 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice. For further explanation, see Commons:Hirtle chart as well as a detailed definition of "publication" for public art. Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties. العربية ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ čeština ∙ Deutsch ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ English ∙ español ∙ français ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ italiano ∙ 日本語 ∙ 한국어 ∙ македонски ∙ Nederlands ∙ português ∙ русский ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenščina ∙ ไทย ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ 中文（简体） ∙ 中文（繁體） ∙ +/−