Examples:
- An application to register a motion picture is submitted along with a photocopy of an assignment involving this work. Biscuit Studios is named as the author, Grey Bullet LLC is named as the claimant, and the transfer statement indicates that the claimant obtained the copyright “by written agreement.” The registration specialist will register the claim, but will not record the assignment or return the document to the applicant.
- An online application is submitted for a musical work, naming Jonathan Rich as the author and Poor Boy Productions LLC as the sole copyright claimant. In addition, the applicant uploads a signed, original copy of a contract that purportedly conveys the copyright in the work from the author to the copyright claimant. The Transfer field states, “see document attached.” The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant. The specialist will explain that a contract is not an acceptable substitute for a transfer statement and will ask for permission to replace the phrase “see document attached” with an appropriate transfer statement, such as “by written agreement” or “by written contract.”
- An online application is submitted for a logo, along with a copy of a legal contract. The application names BrandMe LLC as the author of the work and names Lenny Rodgers as the copyright claimant. There is no transfer statement. In the Note to Copyright Office field Lenny explains, “I paid for this logo so I own it. I would like to record the enclosed contract with the Office.” The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant to determine if Lenny owns the copyright in this logo; if so, the specialist will ask Lenny to provide an appropriate transfer statement. In addition, the specialist will explain that if Lenny would like to record the agreement with the Office, the document should be submitted separately using the procedure for recording documents.
620.10(B) Chain of Title
As a general rule, the applicant need not provide a transfer statement for each transfer of ownership between the author and the party that currently owns all of the rights under copyright that initially belonged to the author. Ordinarily, the registration specialist will accept a transfer statement that describes the most recent transfer between the claimant named in the application and the previous copyright owner, unless the statement is unclear or contradicted by other information in the registration materials.
In special circumstances, the registration specialist may ask the applicant to submit a supplementary statement describing the entire chain of title from the author to the claimant, such as when the work was created by a long-deceased author or a recently-deceased well-known author and there is no indication that the claimant is related to that author.
