athletic maneuvers rather than dance steps, and the focus of the action often involves the movement of a ball or other inanimate object, rather than the rhythmic movement of a dancer's body. Competitive activities lack the capacity for uniform performance because each contest usually involves a different set of maneuvers, they lack compositional arrangement because athletic movements are rarely organized into a coherent compositional whole, and any dramatic content involves the "drama" of the competition rather than a story that is told or a theme that is evoked by the players' movements. See Copyright Office Study No. 28, at 95 [noting that "the narrative description of a fictitious sporting contest . . . [has] been held not dramatic and denied the public performance rights accorded to dramatic compositions" under the 1909 Act).
For similar reasons, the Office cannot register feats of physical skill or dexterity or other choreographed productions that do not involve the rhythmic movement of a dancer's body.
Examples:
• Magic acts.
• Circus acts.
• Juggling.
• Fight sequences or martial arts routines.
See id. at 95 n.13 (1961); see also Registration of Claims to Copyright, 77 Fed. Reg. at 37,607.
805.6 Derivative Choreographic Works
A derivative choreographic work is a work that is based on or derived from one or more preexisting works, regardless of whether the preexisting work is a choreographic work, a pantomime, or any other type of work listed in Section 102(a) of the Copyright Act. Typically, derivative choreography is a new version of a preexisting choreographic work or an entirely new work that combines preexisting choreography with a substantial amount of new material. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (definition of "derivative work").
Examples:
• Adding a new section to Petipa's Don Quixote.
• A modern dance version of the ballet The Nutcracker.
The new authorship that the choreographer contributed to the derivative work may be registered, provided that it contains a sufficient amount of original choreographic authorship. Specifically, the new material that the choreographer contributed to the work must be independently created and it must contain a sufficient amount of creativity. Simply making minor changes or trivial additions to a preexisting choreographic work does not satisfy this requirement. Moreover, simply adding
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