- copyright in the text, he should exclude that material from the application to register his illustrations by stating “text by Leaf Garrett” in the Material Excluded field and “2-D artwork” in the New Material Included field.
- Limitation of claim not required. Susana Fernandez wrote the first draft for her novel in 1995. The following year she wrote a short story, which was never published or registered. In 2005, she incorporated portions of her short story into the novel. The short story and the initial draft of the novel would not be considered unclaimable material, because that material has not been published before, it has not been registered before, it is not in the public domain, and it is not owned by a third party.
621.2 Unclaimable Material That Need Not Be Excluded from the Application
If the applicant intends to register a work that contains a minimal amount of unclaimable material, the applicant need not identify or disclaim that material in the application. Unclaimable material should be disclaimed only if it represents an appreciable portion of the work as a whole. Likewise, if the work contains material that is uncopyrightable, such as facts or mere ideas, there is no need to exclude that material from the application. Generally, quotations from a preexisting work do not need to be excluded as unclaimable material.
Examples:
- An online application is submitted for an essay. The applicant asserts a claim in “text.” In the Note to Copyright Office field, the applicant explains that he “read many newspapers and books in researching this topic.” The work contains one quote. The New Material Included / Material Excluded fields may be left blank, because the quote is too brief to require a limitation of claim.
- An application is submitted for a musical work titled Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You. The chorus contains the phrase, “Ask what you can do for your country,” which was taken from President Kennedy’s inaugural address. The New Material Included/Material Excluded fields may be left blank, because short phrases are uncopyrightable.
621.3 The Relationship Between the Author Created / Limitation of Claim Fields in the Online Application and the Relationship between Spaces 2, 6(a), and 6(b) of the Paper Application
As a general rule, a claim to copyright is defined by the information provided in the Author Created field (in the case of an online application) or in the Nature of Authorship space (in the case of a paper application). Therefore, all of the material that the applicant intends to register should be identified in these fields/spaces.
