- those facts, rather than the text and compilation of information that appear in the work. The registration specialist may communicate with the applicant or may register the claim with an annotation such as: “Regarding author information: research itself not copyrightable. Compendium 707.2. Registration extends to text deposited.”
- An application is submitted for a website containing old photographs with text explaining the significance of each image. The applicant states that Betsy Liu “researched photos and wrote explanation” and that Linda Chan “researched photos and provided information.” The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant. Betsy apparently wrote the text, but it is unclear whether Linda contributed any copyrightable authorship. The specialist will ask the applicant for permission to replace Betsy’s authorship statement with a more appropriate term, such as “text.” If Linda contributed only facts or research, the specialist will ask for permission to remove all of Linda’s information from the registration record.
618.8(A)(10) Unclear Terms for Musical Works and Sound Recordings
As a general rule, the terms “music” and/or “lyrics” should be used to describe the authorship in a musical work, and the terms “sound recording,” “performance,” “production,” “music,” or “lyrics” should be used to describe the authorship in a sound recording. The applicant should not use the following terms in the Author Created field or the Nature of Authorship space, because they are unclear:
- Song
- Ballad
- Cancion
- Vocals
- Musical Instruments
- Rap, Hip Hop, Beats, Loops
- Transcription, Narration, Spoken Words
- Sound Effects
For a discussion of U.S. Copyright Office’s practices and procedures regarding these terms, see Chapter 800, Sections 802.9(E) and 803.9(D).
618.8(A)(11) Entire Work and Other Unspecific Terms
As a general rule, the applicant should use one or more of the terms set forth in Section 618.4(C) in the Author Created field or the Nature of Authorship space.
The applicant should not use the term “entire work,” because it does not identify the specific form of authorship that the applicant intends to register. Instead, it suggests that the applicant may be asserting a claim in both the copyrightable and uncopyrightable elements of the work It also suggests that the applicant may be asserting a claim in any previously published material, previously registered
