Although in principle the Berne Convention abolished formalities for securing copyright protection such as the deposit requirement, the convention is in fact one of “mutual recognition,” i.e., it requires countries subscribing to it only to abolish such formalities with respect to works which first secure copyright in other countries, i.e., “foreign works.” Thus in principle a country can impose such requirements on its own authors, but not of “foreigners.” Perversely, the United States chose to penalize its own authors in this way under section §411 of the United States Copyright Statute (17 U.S.C. §411) which applies only to “United States Works,” which under §101 are defined as:
(1) in the case of a published work, [a] work . . . first published —
(A) in the United States;
(B) simultaneously in the United States and another treaty party or parties, whose law grants a term of copyright protection that is the same as or longer than the term provided in the United States;
(C) simultaneously in the United States and a foreign nation that is not a treaty party; or
(D) in a foreign nation that is not a treaty party, and all of the authors of the work are nationals, domiciliaries, or habitual residents of, or in the case of an audiovisual work legal entities with headquarters in, the United States;
(2) in the case of an unpublished work, all the authors of the work are nationals, domiciliaries, or habitual residents of the United States, or, in the case of an unpublished audiovisual work, all the authors are legal entities with headquarters in the United States; or
(3) in the case of a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work incorporated in a building or structure, the building or structure is located in the United States