The photo was published simultaneously in many newspapers, some of which had no copyright notice at all (neither for the photo in particular, nor for the newspaper as a whole). For example:
Copyright was therefore forfeited per section 9 of the Copyright Act of 1909, which required that notice of copyright be affixed to every published copy.
Also published without copyright notice in (1976) The Instant It Happened, Category:New York: H.N. Abrams & The Associated Press, p. 201 . (The book contained only an "All Rights Reserved" notice, which is not a valid copyright notice under US law.)
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
{{Information |description=Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executes Viet Cong Captain Nguyễn Văn Lém. This Associated Press photograph won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. Film also exists of this event, but owing to the more graphic nature of the film, the photograph is more widely known. |date={{ISO date|1968-02-01} |source=BBC News, "[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42864421 Eddie Adams' iconic Vietnam War photo: What happened next]"...