US Copyright Office

“ Thus, a work by a single author con­sisting of a collection of his writings is not a composite work. Similarly, a work which is the product of joint authorship and common design, or which consists of elements which have been indistinguishably merged into a single entity, cannot be regarded as composite, e.g., musical compositions, dramas, dramatico-musical works, and motion pictures. ”

“ A deri­vative work is one based upon one or more pre­existing works, such as a translation, musical arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, condensation, or any other form in which a work may be recast, trans­formed, or adapted. A work consisting of edi­torial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a derivative work. ”

“ Publication is the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute
publication. ”

“ The statute defines a work made for hire as a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or a work specially ordered or com­missioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audio­ visual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. ”

“ Where, because of the size or physical characteristics of the material in which the work is reproduced in copies, it is impossible or extremely impractical to affix a notice to the copies directly or by means of a durable label, a notice is acceptable if it appears on a tag that is of durable material, so as to withstand normal use, and that is attached to the copy with sufficient durability that it will remain with the copy while it is passing through its normal channels of commerce. ”

“ The "author" is the person who prepared the material covered by the copy­right claim except that in the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared, is considered to be the author. Thus, where a work is made for hire, it is the nation­ality or domicile of the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared, rather than the nationality or domicile of the employee, which may serve as a basis for determining eligibility for registration. ”

“ A toy manufacturer conceives a novel idea for a toy consisting of multicolored geometrical spheres, cubes, and cylinders of varying sizes. All of these parts or pieces are magnetized, and will adhere to one another when placed in close proximity. Thus, it is possible to construct an indefinite variety of shapes and figures by means of the magnetized parts or pieces. The manufacturer desires to protect the three-dimensional aspects of the toy before publica­tion occurs. He applies to the Copyright Office for registration of a design for an unpublished sculptural work of art. ”

“ Sounds accompanying an audiovisual work. When sounds are present, they do not need to be physically integrated with the series of related images to be considered "accompanying sounds," for example, a filmstrip with a separate audio cassette. By definition, there is a distinction between the "accompanying sounds" of an audio­visual work and the series of sounds in a "sound recording." While sound recordings are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, such sounds do not include "sound accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work." ”

“ The mere fact that a work of sculpture embodies uncopyright­able elements, such as standard forms of ornamentation or embellishment, will not prevent registration. However, the creative expression capable of supporting copyright must consist of something more than the mere bringing together of two or three standard forms or shapes with minor linear or spatial variations. In no event can registra­tion rest solely upon the fact that an idea, method of operation, plan, or system has been successfully communi­cated in three-dimensional form. ”

“ As a general rule whenever works protected under the copyright law are published in the United States or elsewhere by authority of the copyright owner, the notice of copyright prescribed by the law should appear on all publicly distributed copies from which the work can be visually perceived and on all publicly distributed phonorecords of sound recordings. See 17 U.S.C. 401 (a) and 402 (a) . If a work is published without notice or with a fatally deficient notice by authority of the copyright owner, and if more than five years have elapsed since such publication, registration is not possible. ”

“ In order for a work to be the subject matter of copyright under the current law, it must be an original work of authorship. Quality, aesthetic merit, ingenuity, and uniqueness are not considered in determining the copyrightability of a work. ”

“ A copy of a motion picture is complete if: the reproduction of all of the visual and aural elements constituting the copyrightable subject matter in the work is clean, undamaged, undeteriorated, and free of splices, and the copy itself and its physical housing are free of any defects that would interfere with the performance of the work or that would cause me­chanical, visual, or audible defects or distortions. ”

“ The physical separability test derives from the principle that a copyrightable work of sculpture which is later incorporated into a useful article retains its copyright pro­tection. Examples of works meeting the physical separability test include a sculptured lamp base of a Balinese dancer, or a pencil sharpener shaped like an antique car. However, since the overall shape of a useful article is not copyrightable, the test of physical separability is not met by the mere fact that the housing of a useful article is detachable from the working parts of the article. ”

“ Since the copyright law provides that the "public" performance or dis­play of a work is not publication, it seems clear that performances and displays which are not public do not constitute publication. ”

“ Source code is the computer program code as the programmer writes it, using a particular programming language, generally a program written in high-level language, such as, BASIC, COBOL, or FORTRAN. A program in source code must be changed into object code before the computer can execute it. This change is accomplished by a separate program within the computer called an assembler or a compiler to enable the program to be run on a particular brand and model computer (e.g., a compiler on a TRS-80 Model III would enable source code to be executed on that particular brand and model computer) . ”

“ Recordation not a substitute for registration. A document may be recorded even if a claim to copyright in the work to which it refers has not been registered for copyright. However, where it is clear that the applicant is seeking to substitute recordation of a document for registration of a claim, or to assert by recordation a claim for which registration would be refused, recordation of the document will be discouraged. ”

“ Where the owner of copyright in a collective work has not obtained ownership of all rights initially belonging to the author of a particular contribution, such person cannot be the "claimant" of copyright in that contribu­tion. ”

“ An automated data base is a body of facts, data, or other information assembled into an organized format, suitable for use in a computer and comprising one or more files. Where all the data in an automated database has been previously published or regis­tered, or is in the public domain, the claim would be limited to the authorship involved in the compilation. ”

“ To "display" a work means to show a copy of it, either directly or by means of a film, slide, television image, or any other device or process or, in the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, to show individual images nonsequentially. ”

“ A musical composition by an author who is a national of a nation with which the United States has no copyright relations, but is domiciled in a foreign nation which, on the date of first publication, has copyright relations with the United States by virtue of the Universal Copyright Convention or the Buenos Aires Convention of 1910, is eligible for registration no matter where the work is first published. ”

“ Standard musical notation, using the five-line, four-space staff is the form most fre­quently employed to embody musical works. Precision equal to that offered by conventional notation is not required, although the deposit should constitute as precise a representation of the work as possible. Any graphic representation of pitch, rhythm, or both, suffices as long as the notation is capable of being performed. Examples: graphically drawn hand signals, fret notation, staves with more or fewer lines than the conventional staff, and "new music," combining graphic art with music notation. ”

“ Once a basic registration has been made in the Copyright Office for a work, that basic registration will ordinarily stand as the fundamental copyright record on which other, later records relating to the particular work can be built. ”

“ If a substantial part of the nonexempt text of a work made for hire was prepared for an employer or other person who is not a national or domiciliary of the United States or a domestic corporation or enterprise, the manufacturing requirements do not apply. ”

“ Con­ceptual separability means that the pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features, while physically inseparable by ordinary means from the utilitarian item, are never­theless clearly recognizable as a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work which can be visualized on paper, for example, or as free-standing sculpture, as another example, independent of the shape of the useful article, i.e., the artistic features can be imagined separately and independently from the useful article without destroying the basic shape of the useful article. ”

“ A motion picture may embody the contributions of many persons whose efforts are brought together to make a cinematographic work of author­ ship. Some examples of copyrightable elements might be camerawork, directing, editing, sound engineering, and other cinematographic contributions. By contrast, however, mere mechanical acts cannot serve
as the basis for copyright registration: for example, a claim based on conversion from 35-mm film to one-half-inch videocassette is not subject to registration. ”

“ Embodiment of pantomimes. Unlike choreography, pantomimes are not usually fixed using a speci­fic form of symbolic notation. Conceivably, however, the same systems could be used for notating pantomimes as for dance. To register a work as a pantomime, the movements must be described in sufficient detail to enable the work to be performed from such description, or an actual performance must be captured on some form of film or videotape. ”

“ A musical arrangement is a work that results from the addition of new harmony to a preexisting work. The standard of originality for arrangements takes into consideration the fact that a melody carries with it a certain amount of implied harmony. ”