work. Specifically, the applicant should provide the name of the person(s) or organization (s) who created the source code for the program. The registration specialist may communicate with the applicant if it appears that the author merely assigned coordinates to a particular letterform and then used a third party program to render typeface or typefont from those coordinates (but did not create any of the source code for that program).
"Computer program" is the most appropriate term for registering a claim in this type of work. As discussed in Section 721.9(F), this information should be provided in the Author Created field, and if applicable, also in the New Material Included field. When completing a paper application on Form TX, this information should be provided in space 2, and if applicable, also in space 6(b). The U.S. Copyright Office will not accept an application that asserts a claim in the "entire work," "entire computer program," "entire text," or the like, because these statements suggest that the applicant may be asserting a claim in both the copyrightable and uncopyrightable elements of the program. See 57 Fed. Reg. at 6202.
To register a computer program that generates typeface, typefont, letterform, or barcodes, the applicant must submit a portion of the source code for that program. If the applicant merely submits a representation of the characters generated by the program without providing any code, the registration specialist will communicate with the applicant. For a discussion of the deposit requirements for computer programs, see Chapter 1500, Section 1509.1(C).
724 Diagrams, Models, Outlines, Pseudocode, and Other Types of Works That Illustrate or Describe a Computer Program
Diagrams, models, outlines, pseudocode, or other types of works that illustrate or describe the structure or order of operation for a computer program may be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, provided that they contain a sufficient amount of original authorship. However, such illustrations or descriptions may not be claimed as computer programs.
The Literary Division may accept a claim in "text" if the work contains a sufficient amount of written expression, or a claim in "artwork," "photograph(s)," "technical drawing," or "graphic work" if the work contains a sufficient amount of pictorial or graphic expression. When completing an online application this information should be provided in the Author Created field, and if applicable, also in the New Material Included field. When completing a paper application on Form TX, this information should be provided in space 2, and if applicable, also in space 6(b). For guidance on completing these portions of the application, see Sections 721.9(F) and 721.9(G). When asserting a claim in these types of works, the applicant should provide the name of the author who created the work and the name of the claimant who owns the copyright in that work.
A registration for this type of work covers the copyrightable expression that appears in the deposit copy(ies). However, it does not cover the computer program that may be described in the deposit copy(ies) unless the applicant expressly asserts a claim in the program and submits an appropriate selection of source code.
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