In a message dated 98-02-06 10:08:58 EST, you write:
 
> I have a legal question for anyone out there.  Does it matter where the
>  copyright is placed in a film?  Specifically, if the copyright is placed
>  at the end of the credits does that have any bearing--leagally--on
>  anything that might come after the credits?  I am thinking of something
>  such as the "brief statement" which occurs at the end of Frederick
>  Wiseman's _Titicut Follies_, stating that changes have been made at the
>  MCIB corrections facility since the making of the film.  Does it matter at
>  all in a strict legal sense that Wiseman puts this statement "after" the
>  film in a sense?
 
The location of the copyright notice has no significance (unless it's not
easily found or legible).  Moreover, "no copyright notice is required to gain
a copyright" for works published or distributed after 1989.  "The copyright
comes into existence when the work has been created.  The creator need not
send any forms to the Copyright Office, say any magic words or perform any
rituals in order to be protected under Copyright law."   (And so I don't
violate any copyrights myself, the quoted material is from Mark Litwak's book,
Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry, Copyright 1994)
 
Rob
 
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