Pre-1989 Copyright Registration Requirement

[Unimatic1140]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[LordofBooks]

U.S. law no longer requires the use of a copyright notice, although it is often
beneficial. Prior law did, however, contain such a requirement, and the use
of a notice is still relevant to the copyright status of older works. This circular
describes the copyright notice provisions enacted in the 1976 Copyright Act
(title 17, U. S.Code), which took effect January 1, 1978, and the effect of the 1988
Berne Convention Implementation Act, which amended the law to make the
use of a copyright notice optional on copies of works published on and after
March 1, 1989. Specifications for the proper form and placement of the notice
are included.

Works published before January 1, 1978, are governed by the previous copyright law. Under that law, if a work was published under the copyright owner’s
authority without a proper notice of copyright, all copyright protection for that
work was permanently lost in the United States. For more information about
the law governing copyright notice before January 1, 1978, see 37 C.F.R. 202.2,

 

[Unimatic1140]

Thank you LordofBooks for your response. I'm not sure why but my original post seems to have vanished, just the title remained in tact. So I will repost it as a reply.

My question was this, I realize after 3/1/1989 the copyright designation is no longer necessary, Copyright is automatically granted at inception of the work. I have some materials from 1981 that do infact have the copyright designation on them. But after extensive searches at the copyright office I found that these materials were never registered with the copyright office. While after 1988 I do know that registration is not necessary but what about older materials? Is a vintage document that has the copyright designation but never registered with the copyright office in the public domain? In other words, before 1989 was both registration and designation necessary to obtain a copyright? If one or the other was missing does it fall into the public domain?

Thanks to everyone in advance for your advice.