"Comcast News" wrote in message news:6E5Sc.281509$XM6.254525@attbi_s53...
I am not certain what your source meant, but when you go to the US
government site concerning copyrights (
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wnp) they state:
"HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently
misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the
Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following Note.)
There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration. See
"Copyright Registration."

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is
"created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.
"Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually
perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as
books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm.
"Phonorecords" are material objects embodying fixations of sounds
(excluding, by statutory definition, motion picture soundtracks), such as
cassette tapes, CDs, or LPs. Thus, for example, a song (the "work") can be
fixed in sheet music (" copies") or in phonograph disks (" phonorecords"),
or both.

If a work is prepared over a period of time, the part of the work that is
fixed on a particular date constitutes the created work as of that date."

end of quote.

It seems your source either disagrees with the US Copyright Office or your
cite was in reference to another matter, possible republishing someone
Usenet post when responding to a Usenet post.

That IS the law, direct from the Copyright Act. Please go read Section
411(a) of the Copyright Act, and get back to me.