death. Id.; see also H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 137 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5659, 5753.
If the work satisfies the statutory definition of an anonymous work, the applicant is not required to provide the author’s name in the application. Instead, the applicant may leave the Name of the Author field/space blank and check the box marked Anonymous. (If the applicant fails to provide the author’s name and fails to check the Anonymous box in an online application, the application will not be accepted by the electronic registration system.)
If the applicant does not provide the author’s name, the applicant should identify the year that the work was created, and if the work has been published, the applicant should provide the date of publication. In addition, the applicant should provide the author’s nation of citizenship and/or nation of domicile, even if the author’s name has not been disclosed. The Office may use this information to determine if the work is eligible for copyright protection in the United States. If the applicant fails to provide this information, the application may be questioned.
If the author and the copyright claimant are the same individual and if that individual does not wish to provide his or her real name anywhere in the application, the applicant may state “Anonymous” in the Name of Author field/space, and may provide a pseudonym in the field/spaces for the Name of Claimant, Rights and Permissions, Correspondent, and Certification.
As described in Section 615.3 below, the information provided on the application becomes part of the public record. Therefore, if the work satisfies the statutory definition of an anonymous work and if the applicant does not wish to disclose the author’s real name, the applicant should check the Anonymous box instead of providing the author’s real name in the application.
Example:
- Joseph Cline is the author of a literary work titled Prime Color. Cline’s name did not appear on the first edition of the work. Instead, the first edition stated that the work was written “By Anonymous.” The U.S. Copyright Office will register the first edition as an anonymous work, if the applicant identifies the author as “Anonymous.” In the alternative, the Office would accept an application that names Joseph Cline as the author with the Anonymous box checked, because Cline’s name did not appear on the copies of the work.
615.2 Pseudonymous Works
615.2(A) What Is a Pseudonymous Work?
A work is considered a pseudonymous work if “the author is identified under a fictitious name” on the copies or phonorecords of the work. 17 U.S.C. § 101.
