| Category of Authorship | Types of Works
|
|---|---|
| Sound Recordings | A recording of a song, a recording of a vocal performance, a recording of a musical performance, a recording of a literary work (e.g., an audiobook), a digital file of a performance, and similar types of recordings. |
| Architectural Works | Buildings, architectural plans, and architectural drawings. |
503.1(C) Compilations and Derivative Works
The Copyright Act states that “[t]he subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works.” 17 U.S.C. § 103(a).
Compilations and derivative works constitute copyrightable subject matter, provided that the work falls within one or more of the categories of authorship set forth in Section 102(a) of the Act (e.g., literary works, sound recordings, pictorial works, etc.). In other words, a compilation or derivative work may be copyrightable provided that it qualifies as a literary work, a musical work, a dramatic work, or one of the other congressionally-established categories of authorship. A compilation or derivative work that does not fall within one or more of the Section 102(a) categories is not registrable, such as a compilation of exercises or a new version of a useful article. Registration of Claims to Copyright, 77 Fed. Reg. 37,605, 37,606 (June 22, 2012).
For a definition and discussion of compilations and derivative works, see Sections 507 and 508.
503.1(D) Work of Authorship Distinguished from the Medium of Expression
A copyright registration covers the copyrightable authorship that the author contributed to the work, but it does not cover the medium in which the work has been fixed. See H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 53 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5659, 5666; S. Rep. No. 94-473, at 52 (1975) (recognizing that there is “a fundamental distinction between the ‘original work’ which is the product of ‘authorship’ and the multitude of material objects in which it can be embodied.”). Thus, when completing an application, the applicant should describe the copyrightable authorship that the author contributed to the work, rather than the medium that the author used to create that work. The U.S. Copyright Office cannot register a claim based solely on the method that the author used to create his or her expression or the medium in which the expression has been fixed.
The following chart provides representative examples of various types of works and the authorship they typically contain, as distinguished from the medium in which the authorship may be fixed. In these examples, the Office may register a claim to copyright in “2-D artwork,” “music and lyrics,” “sound recording,” or other forms of original
