602.10 General Practices Regarding Cataloging Information
If information is missing from the application but is clearly provided elsewhere in the registration materials, the registration specialist may add that information to the online public record if it is likely that a person searching the U.S. Copyright Office’s records may use that information to locate the work.
Example:
- The Office receives an application to register a claim in “spoken text,” along with a compact disc containing a sound recording. The application names “Florence Markic” as the author of the work, but the cover of the CD identifies the author as “Irene Gregor.” The liner notes explain that Florence Markic is professionally known as Irene Gregor. The registration specialist will register the claim without communicating with the applicant, and the specialist may add the author’s professional name to the online public record as a searchable term.
603 Variances
The U.S. Copyright Office uses the term “variance” to refer to any instance where conflicting information is present in or among the registration materials submitted by the applicant. The Office has certain practices for addressing variances, depending on the nature of the conflicting information. There are three general categories of variances: (i) immaterial; (ii) material but resolvable on review of the registration materials as a whole; and (iii) material and requiring communication with the applicant. These categories are described in Sections 603.1 and 603.2 below.
If the registration specialist discovers a variance in the registration materials, the actions that he or she may take include: (i) adding a note to the online public record; (ii) adding an annotation to the certificate of registration and the online public record to identify a correction made by the specialist or to clarify information provided elsewhere in the registration materials; (iii) corresponding with the applicant to obtain the correct information; or (iv) disregarding the variance if it is immaterial. These actions and the circumstances when they may be taken are discussed in Sections 603.1 and 603.2 below. For a discussion of the Office’s general policies regarding annotations, see Section 604.
603.1 Immaterial Variances
An immaterial variance is a variance that does not affect the required information that should be included in an application, or any of the essential issues that should be resolved before the U.S. Copyright Office may complete a registration, or where an ordinary person would be able to discern the correct information from the application and would recognize the variance as a mere discrepancy, such as a misspelling or typographical error. As a general rule, the registration specialist will disregard immaterial variances and will register the claim without annotating or communicating with the applicant, but may note the variance in the online public record.
