Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition
- place of deposit copy(ies), permit the registration of groups of related works with one application, and provide for the correction and amplification of registrations. Section 410 of the Act sets forth the Register’s authority to examine and either register or refuse copyright claims. Sections 411 and 412 address registration as a prerequisite for civil infringement claims and certain remedies. Chapters 200 through 2200 of this Compendium discuss the Office’s policies and practices relating to the examination of claims for copyright registration.
- Recordation: The statutory provisions governing recordation are set forth in Chapter 2 of the Copyright Act. Under Section 205, any transfer of copyright ownership or other document relating to copyright may be recorded in the U.S. Copyright Office, subject to certain conditions. The recordation of documents pertaining to transfers or other ownership matters is voluntary, but recommended because: (i) it provides constructive notice of the facts stated in the recorded document if certain conditions have been met; (ii) when a transfer of copyright is timely recorded (within one month of its execution in the United States or two months of its execution outside of the United States, or any time before a conflicting transfer is recorded), the recorded transfer prevails over a later executed transfer; and (iii) a complete public record may mitigate problems related to orphan works. Interested parties also record or consult documents pertaining to licenses, death of authors, expiration of term, wills, trusts, security interests, and mortgages, to name a few. For a discussion of some of these documents, see Chapter 2300 of this Compendium.
- Termination notices: The Copyright Act allows, under certain circumstances, authors or their heirs to terminate an agreement that previously granted one or more of the author’s exclusive rights to a third party. These termination provisions are set forth in Sections 203, 304(c), and 304(d) of the Act. To terminate an agreement, a notice of termination must be served on the grantee, and it must be recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office in a timely manner as a condition of effect. 17 U.S.C. §§ 203(a)(4), 304(c)(4), 304(d)(1). For a discussion of recordation of notices of termination, see Chapter 2300, Section 2310 of this Compendium.
- Public records: The U.S. Copyright Office maintains extensive public records of copyright claims dating back to 1870 and in some instances earlier, including:
- Certificates of registration, which attest that registration has been made and may constitute prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate (if registration is made before publication or within five years of first publication). 17 U.S.C. § 410(c).
- The online public record, which provides the basic facts of registrations and recordations made after January 1, 1978. This information is available in a searchable database on the Office’s website at www.copyright.gov/.
- The Copyright Card Catalog, which is a physical archive available for public use at the Copyright Office in searching for completed registrations and recorded documents made before January 1, 1978.
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12/22/2014
