when completing these portions of the application. A clear description of the copyrightable expression that the applicant intends to register creates an accurate record of authorship and ownership for the benefit of the copyright owner, the courts, and the general public.
The fact that a work was submitted for registration and was registered by the U.S. Copyright Office does not necessarily mean that the registration covers all the authorship that appears in the work as a whole. As discussed in Section 503.3, the Office examines and registers only the copyrightable authorship that is expressly claimed in the application and that is included in the deposit copy(ies). The Office does not examine any authorship that is not claimed in the application, and it cannot examine any authorship that does not appear in the deposit copy(ies).
504.1 Copyrightable Authorship vs. Uncopyrightable Material
A registration covers the copyrightable authorship that the author or co-authors contributed to the work, but it does not cover any uncopyrightable material that appears in the work.
If the applicant expressly asserts a claim in uncopyrightable material, the registration specialist may communicate with the applicant. In the alternative, the specialist may remove the uncopyrightable term from the application and register the claim with an annotation indicating that the registration does not cover that material. See Chapter 600, Section 604. The annotation is intended to put the copyright owner, the courts, and the general public on notice concerning the extent of the claim. That said, a registration does not extend to uncopyrightable material that appears in a work of authorship, even if the registration does not contain an annotation or even if it contains ambiguous language that may refer to uncopyrightable material.
504.2 Authorship Contained in the Deposit Copy(ies)
Ordinarily, a registration for a work of authorship only covers the material that is included in the deposit copy(ies). It does not cover authorship that does not appear in the deposit copy(ies), even if the applicant expressly claims that authorship in the application.
There are two limited exceptions to this rule:
- In some cases, an applicant may register a work of authorship by submitting identifying portions of the work. For example, an applicant may register a computer program by submitting a portion of the source code for that work, rather than a complete copy of the entire program.
- In exceptional cases, the U.S. Copyright Office may grant special relief from the deposit requirements for a particular work.
A work of authorship that is registered with identifying material or based on a grant of special relief may cover the entire copyrightable content of the work, notwithstanding the fact that the applicant did not submit a copy of the entire work. For a discussion of
