- Sound recordings.
- Architectural works.
Section 103(a) states that the subject matter of copyright also includes derivative works, compilations, and collective works. See 17 U.S.C. § 103(a); see also 17 U.S.C. § 101 (explaining that “[t]he term ‘compilation’ includes collective works”). These types of works are a subset of the categories set forth in Section 102(a), rather than separate and distinct categories of works. In other words, derivative works, compilations, and collective works may be registered, provided that the work falls within one or more of the congressionally established categories of authorship under Section 102(a). See Registration of Claims to Copyright, 77 Fed. Reg. 37,605, 37,606 (June 22, 2012).
The categories of works set forth in Section 102(a) “do not necessarily exhaust the scope of ‘original works of authorship’ that the [Copyright Act] is intended to protect.” H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 53 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 5666. The statute “sets out the general area of copyrightable subject matter” with “sufficient flexibility to free the courts from rigid or outmoded concepts of the scope of particular categories.” Id. The categories are also “overlapping in the sense that a work falling within one class may encompass works coming within some or all of the other categories.” Id.
Congress gave federal courts the flexibility to interpret the scope of the existing subject matter categories, but only Congress has the authority to create entirely new categories of authorship. “If the federal courts do not have the authority to establish new categories of subject matter, it necessarily follows that the Copyright Office also has no such authority in the absence of any clear delegation of authority to the Register of Copyrights.” 77 Fed. Reg. at 37,607.
While the categories listed in Section 102(a) are “very broad … there are unquestionably other areas of existing subject matter that [the Copyright Act] does not propose to protect….” H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 52 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 5665. If the Office determines that a work does not fall within the categories of copyrightable subject matter, the Office will refuse to register the claim. For representative examples of works that do not satisfy this requirement, see Sections 313.3 and 313.6(C) below.
308 The Originality Requirement
Originality is “the bedrock principle of copyright” and “the very premise of copyright law.” Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service Co., Inc., 499 U.S. 340, 347 (1991) (citation omitted).
“To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original to the author,” which means that the work must be “independently created by the author” and it must possesses “at least some minimal degree of creativity.” Id. at 345 (citations omitted).
