When a work is "made for hire," the employer or other party for whom the work was prepared is the legal author.
• If the entire work was "made for hire," the employer or other party for whom the work was prepared should be named as author. The "for hire" question should be answered "yes." The names of the employees should not be given. Often the authorship in this case will be described as "motion picture."
• If no part of the work was "made for hire," the individuals] who made the motion picture should be named as author(s) and the "for hire" questionfs] should be answered "no." Each author's contribution to the motion picture should be briefly described in the Author Created field or the Nature of Authorship space using an acceptable authorship term, such as "production" "direction," "script/screenplay," "cinematography," and so forth.
• If part of the work was "made for hire" and part was not, the applicant should provide an appropriate response for each author in the Name of Author and Author Created/Nature of Authorship fields/spaces. In some cases, the applicant may need to list the same name twice, with the "for hire" question answered "yes" or "no" as appropriate.
For guidance in completing this portion of the application, see Chapter 600, Section 614.
808.11(C) The Author Created Field and the Nature of Authorship Space
When completing an online application, the applicant should describe the authorship that will be submitted for registration, either by checking one or more of the box(es) in the Author Created field or by providing an appropriate statement in the box marked "Other." When completing a paper application, the applicant should provide this information in the Nature of Authorship space.
To register the entire work using the online application, the applicant may select the box marked "entire motion picture." To describe individual elements of the motion picture, the applicant may select one or more of the following boxes:
• Production/Producer
• Direction/Director
• Cinematography/Cinematographer
• Editing/Editing
• Script/Screenplay
For a definition and discussion of these terms, see Chapter 600, Section 618.4(C).
The "Other" box may be used to describe other types of authorship, such as "music."
These same terms may be used when completing the Nature of Authorship space in the paper application.
Chapter 800 : 124
12/22/2014
