It's a myth as applied to current law, since Section 401 of the current Copyright Act does not allow that variant any more. As the previous commenter said, publ

It's a myth as applied to current law, since Section 401 of the current Copyright Act does not allow that variant any more. As the previous commenter said, publishing something in the US with an invalid copyright notice still grants US copyright since the US adoption of the Berne Convention in the late 1980s, but it does withhold the extra optional legal benefits which the notice provides.