| Type of Work | Copyrightable Authorship | Uncopyrightable Material
|
|---|---|---|
| Product logo | Artwork | Name of the product; typeface or typographic ornamentation |
| Comic book | Artwork, text | Name of characters; idea for characters |
| Website | Text, artwork, photographs, audiovisual material | Format and layout; domain name |
503.2 Who Is the Author of the Work?
The applicant should identify the author or co-authors who created the work that the applicant intends to register.
If the work qualifies as a joint work, the applicant should identify each author who contributed copyrightable authorship to that work. For a definition and discussion of joint works, see Section 505.
If the work was created as a work made for hire, the employer for hire should be identified as the author. For a definition and discussion of works made for hire, see Section 506.
The author or co-authors listed in the application are presumed to be the sole authors or joint authors of the expression claimed therein. Although the U.S. Copyright Office does not investigate the truth of the claims asserted in the application, it does verify that the asserted authorship facts are consistent with the facts contained in the deposit copy(ies) or elsewhere in the registration materials.
For guidance in identifying the author of a work, see Chapter 600, Sections 613.1 through 613.8. For guidance in completing the name of author field/space of the application, see Chapter 600, Section 613.9.
503.3 What Type of Authorship Did the Author Create?
The applicant should identify the copyrightable authorship that the author or co-authors contributed to the work.
The U.S. Copyright Office only examines the authorship that is explicitly claimed in the application. It does not examine any authorship that is not claimed in the application, and therefore, no prima facie presumption should apply to unclaimed authorship that appears in the work.
A copyrightable work may contain one or more types of authorship, but as discussed in Section 503.4, a registration only covers the authorship that is owned by the claimant or co-claimants who are named in the application. In some cases, the applicant may intend and may be entitled to register all of the authorship that appears in the work, while in
