• Before the Copyright Act of 1976 made publication irrelevant, courts distinguished between limited publication and general publication to decide whether federal copyright laws applied. Under that Act, a work published before January 1, 1978 without proper copyright notice entered the public domain unless the publication was limited.
— Also termed private publication. Cf. general publication. [Cases: Copyrights and Intellectual Property 31. C.J.S. Copyrights and Intellectual Property §§ 32, 37.]