- The title provided in the application is Ten Frontier Women and the Founding of Carson City, and the title given on the deposit copies is Eight Frontier Men and the Founding of Calico. The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant to determine whether the correct deposit copies have been submitted or whether the title field should be revised.
611 Year of Completion / Year in Which Creation of This Work Was Completed
To register a work of authorship with the U.S. Copyright Office, the applicant must identify the year that the work was created. 17 U.S.C. § 409(7). A work is considered created when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. If the work was prepared over a period of time, the portion or portions of the work that existed in a fixed form on a particular date constitute the work that has been created as of that date. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (definition of “created”); 37 C.F.R. § 202.3(b)(4)(ii). The year of creation is particularly important in the case of a work made for hire, an anonymous work, or a pseudonymous work, because this date may be used to calculate the term of the copyright. 17 U.S.C. § 302(c).
611.1 Completing the Application: Year of Completion / Year in Which Creation of this Work Was Completed
When completing an online application, the applicant should identify the year that the work was completed on the Publication/Completion screen in the field marked Year of Completion (Year of Creation). The year of completion must be provided in four numeric digits.
When completing a paper application, the applicant should identify the year that the author completed the work on space 3(a) under the heading Year in Which Creation of This Work was Completed. The specific month and day that the author completed the work need not be provided.
611.2 Year of Completion for an Unpublished Work Created Over a Period of Time
If the work is unpublished and if the author created the work over an extended period of time, the applicant should provide the year of completion for the most recent iteration of the work. If the applicant provides a year of completion for each iteration of the work (e.g., a cover letter explaining that the author completed the first draft in 2006, the second draft in 2007, and the final draft in 2008), the registration specialist will replace that information with the year of completion for the most recent iteration, and will add an annotation to the registration record specifying the source of that information, such as: “Regarding year of completion: corrected by C.O. from cover letter.”
611.3 Year of Completion for Multiple Versions of the Same Work
If the author created multiple versions of the same work, each version is considered a separate work. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (definition of “created”). As a general rule, if each version has been published, the applicant must submit a separate application and filing fee for each of those versions. 37 C.F.R. § 202.3(b)(11). In this situation, the applicant should provide the year of completion for the specific version that is being registered.
