2208 Government Works
Protection under the Copyright Act is not available for any work of the United States government. However, if a works consists of both works of the United States government and works protectable under the Copyright Act, the notice should contain a statement identifying those portions of the copies or phonorecord that do or do not contain work(s] that are protected under the Copyright Act.17 U.S.C. §§ 105, 403.
If the work was published on or after March 1, 1989, the U.S. Copyright Office may register the claim even if this statement does not appear in the notice. By contrast, if the work was published between January 1, 1978 and February 28, 1989, the failure to include this statement may be considered an omission of the notice.
2209 General, Specific, and Restricted Notice
2209.1 General and Specific Notice
A general notice is a notice that contains the elements listed in Sections 2204.1 or 2204.2 [e.g., © 1981 John Doe]. A specific notice is a notice that identifies the portions or features of the work that belong to the copyright owner [e.g., "Introduction and illustrations © 1981 Popular Publishing Co." or "Arrangement © 1981 Newstyle Music Co.").
A general notice may be used on a work of authorship, even if the claim is limited to a specific portion of that work, such as the introduction to a biography or the new material that appears in the second edition of a textbook.
If the work contains a specific notice that identifies specific aspects of the work,
the registration specialist may communicate with the applicant if those aspects are not
reflected in the application or if the claim is unclear.
2209.2 Restricted Notice
A restricted notice is a notice that contains a statement indicating that the notice does not cover certain material that appears in the work.
Example:
• "Copyright 1980 XYZ Publisher, no copyright claimed in illustration."
If the notice specifies only the material that has been excluded from the claim,
the registration specialist may add an annotation to the registration record, such as:
"Regarding deposit: in notice: [quote notice that appears on the deposit copy]."
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