a work made for hire, the person or organization that ordered or commissioned the work should be listed as the author (rather than the individual who actually created the work). See 17 U.S.C. § 201(b).
If the employer or the party who ordered or commissioned the work is an individual, the applicant should enter that individual’s first and last name in the field marked Individual Author. If the employer or the party that ordered or commissioned the work is an organization, the applicant should provide the full name of that organization in the field marked Organization Name. In both cases, the applicant should choose “yes” in response to the question “Is this author’s contribution a work made for hire?”
NOTE: If an organization is named as the author of the work, the box marked “Is this author’s contribution a work made for hire?” must be checked “yes.” If the applicant provides the name of an organization and checks the “no” box, the application will not be accepted by the electronic registration system.
When completing a paper application, the applicant should list the name of the employer or the party that ordered or commissioned the work on line 2(a) of the application in the space marked Name of Author. Additionally, the applicant should choose “yes” in response to the question “Is this author’s contribution a work made for hire?”
614.1(C) Identifying the Citizenship and / or Domicile of the Author
If the work was created by an employee acting within the scope of his or her employment and if the employer is an individual, the applicant should identify the employer’s country of citizenship and domicile (rather than the employee’s citizenship or domicile). Likewise, if the work was specially ordered or commissioned as a work made for hire and if the hiring party is an individual, the applicant should provide citizenship and domicile information for the party that ordered or commissioned the work (rather than the individual who actually created the work). By contrast, if the work was created for a company, organization, or other legal entity, the applicant should identify the country where the entity is domiciled, but need not provide a country of citizenship for that entity.
When completing an online application, the applicant should provide this information by selecting one of the countries listed in the drop down menus that appear under the headings Citizenship and/or Domicile. When completing a paper application the applicant should insert this information on space 2. If the employer or the party that ordered or commissioned the work is a citizen of or domiciled in more than one country, the applicant may specify any of the countries that establish that the work is eligible for copyright protection under U.S. copyright law. For additional guidance on completing this portion of the application, see Section 617.
614.1(D) Year of Birth and Death Not Required for Works Made for Hire
When completing an online or paper application, the applicant will be asked to identify the year that the author was born and the year that the author died. If the work is a work made for hire, this portion of the application should be left blank, even if the author is an individual, rather than a company or organization. The year of the author’s birth and death is not required in this situation, because the term of copyright for a
