PART IV
Two Registrations Made for the Same Unpublished or Published Work
Occasionally a remitter will inform us that, through error, two registrations were made for the same unpublished or published work, and he will ask that we "disregard" or "cancel" the later registration or "change our records so that only the original registration will be on file." Sometimes he asks that we cancel the original registration. In any case, we now have on record two registrations for the same work. The situation may arise where the applicant himself has erroneously made two registrations (e.g., he may have lost his original certificate and as a result forgotten that he already registered the claim). Or it may happen that the publisher applies for registration not knowing that the author has already registered a claim in the work.
In either type situation, since the registrations were made at different times, there would, ordinarily, be no way for the Office to know that a second registration was being made for the same work. Consequently, no Office error is involved, and we cannot cancel either registration; However, the presence in our records of two registrations for the same work can raise questions, particularly if the work involved is an unpublished work.
When we are informed that two registrations have been made for the same work, the following procedures should be followed:
