The US Law that goverened copyrights in 1939 is clear that if a literary work is published and sold without a copyright notice the work falls into the public domain.
Jim Burwell gave a speech on March 14, 1947 and in the transcript of that speech he recalls when and how the Multilith Edition was sold [without copyright notice].
Ruth Hock is very clear in her Nov 10, 1955 recollections that the whole purpose of producing the Multilith Edition was to sell them to raise money to operate the office and publish the 1st Edition Big Book. The Multilith Edition was published without copyright notice and as you can see below, as Ruth recalls, the Multilith Edition was sold and the profits were to be used to operate the office and publish the Big Book.
Click on Picture to Enlarge
Forward to the Multilith Edition
The Alcoholic Foundation Page
