Copyright Law Dictates New Procedures for Authors.

The article presents information about the new copyright law in the U.S. When the new law (PL 94-553) enters into force on January 1, 1978, the common law copyright will be abolished. All works, whether published or unpublished, will now have full statutory copyright protection. Although most authors have never been especially cognizant of the common law copyright protection of their work or questioned the right of publishers to own the statutory copyright of their work once it appears in print, it is important that authors, users and publishers understand the new copyright law.