• Section 804.9: Dramatic Works.
• Section 805.9: Choreographic Works.
• Section 806.7: Pantomimes.
• Section 807.8: Audiovisual Works.
• Section 808.11: Motion Pictures.
801.12 Deposit Requirements for Works of the Performing Arts
For information concerning the deposit requirements for works of the performing arts, see Chapter 1500, Section 1509.2.
802 Musical Works
802.1 What Is a Musical Work?
For purposes of copyright registration, musical works (which are also known as musical compositions) are original works of authorship consisting of music and any accompanying words. Music is a succession of pitches or rhythms, or both, usually in some definite pattern.
802.2 Musical Works Distinguished from Other Types of Works
802.2(A) Nondramatic Musical Works Distinguished from Dramatic Musical Works
A dramatic musical work is a musical work created for use in a motion picture or a dramatic work, including musical plays and operas. These types of works are discussed in Section 804.
By contrast, a nondramatic musical work is a musical work that was not created for use in a motion picture or a dramatic work, such as a ballad intended for distribution solely on an album or an advertising jingle intended solely for performance on the radio.
802.2(B) Musical Works Distinguished from Sound Recordings
A musical work and a sound recording of that musical composition are separate works. The copyright in a musical work covers the music (and lyrics, if any) embodied in the musical composition itself, but does not cover a particular recording of that composition (or vice versa).
For more information on this issue, see Sections 802.8(A) and 803.8(A).
802.3 Elements of Musical Works
The Office's registration specialists examine musical works for copyrightable authorship. The main elements of copyrightable musical work authorship include
Chapter 800 : 20
12/22/2014
