The Copyright Act of 1976 defines publication.  According to the Act, publication is the act of distributing copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale, rental, lease, lending or other transfer of ownership.  However, mere public performance or display of a work does not constitute publication.  Copying refers to fixing a work in a material object from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated directly or with the aid of a machine or device to the public.  Phonorecords are material objects in which sounds other than those accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work are fixed from which the sounds can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated to the public.