Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition
may register the claim with an annotation identifying the copyrightable material that has been submitted for registration and stating that the registration does not cover the de minimis material claimed in the application.
Examples:
- An application is submitted for a work containing a poem and several watercolors. The applicant asserts a claim in “text, artwork.” In the Note to Copyright Office field, the applicant explains that the poem was written by Lord Byron and that she added the words “she,” “her,” and “woman” to change the gender of the title character. Because these revisions are de minimis, the registration specialist will ask the applicant for permission to remove the term “text” and to limit the claim to “artwork.”
- An application is submitted naming Shirley Wonder as the author of “text, 2-D artwork.” The deposit is a poster containing a drawing of Jackie Robinson, together with the word “Pioneer” and the phrase “Here’s to You, Mr. Robinson.” Because the text is de minimis, the registration specialist will ask the applicant for permission to remove the term “text” from the registration record.
- An application is submitted for a musical work naming Susan Harris as the author of “words and arrangement.” The deposit copy contains only lyrics and chord symbols. The registration specialist may register the claim with an annotation, such as: “Regarding author information: copy contains words and chord symbols only. De minimis selection and arrangement of chord symbols not registrable as a musical work. Compendium 802.6(C)(1).”
618.8(D)(3) Claim in De Minimis Material: Works Created by Two or More Authors
If two or more authors are named in the application, and if it appears that one of the authors contributed de minimis authorship to the work, the specialist will ask for permission to remove that author's information from the registration record.
Example:
- An application is submitted for a musical work, naming Bert Mendelson as the author of “music” and Alice Cambridge as the author of “lyrics.” The lyrics consist of the words “I love you” repeated over and over again. The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant and explain that Alice’s contribution to this work appears to be de minimis. If Alice did not contribute any other authorship to the work, the specialist will ask for permission to remove all of Alice’s information and the term “lyrics” from the registration record.
Chapter 600 : 150
12/22/2014
