If the Office determines that a work possesses sufficient creativity, it will register the claim and issue a certificate of registration. Conversely, if the Office determines that the work does not possess some minimal degree of creativity, it will refuse registration.
For more information on works that do not satisfy the creativity requirement, see Section 313.4(B) through 313.4(K) below.
309 Examining a Work for Copyrightable Authorship
As discussed in Section 302, the U.S. Copyright Office will examine a work of authorship to determine if “the material deposited constitutes copyrightable subject matter” and if “the other legal and formal requirements have been met.” 17 U.S.C. § 410(a). In determining whether a work is copyrightable, the registration specialist will consider (i) the application, (ii) the deposit copy(ies), (iii) whether the correct the filing fee was submitted, as well as (iv) any communications between the applicant and the Office relating to the registration of the claim or any other material that has been submitted to the Office. Together, these items are referred to as the “registration materials.”
As discussed in Sections 304 through 308, a work may be copyrightable (i) if it is eligible for copyright protection in the United States, (ii) if the work has been fixed in a tangible medium of expression, (iii) if the work was created by a human author, (iv) if the work constitutes copyrightable subject matter, and (v) if the work contains at least a minimum amount of creative authorship that is original to the author.
When examining a claim to copyright, the registration specialist will use objective criteria to determine whether the work satisfies these requirements by reviewing the information provided in the application and by examining the deposit copy(ies), including its individual elements as well as the work as a whole. The specific criteria that the specialist will consider when examining a derivative work, a compilation, or a collective work are discussed in Sections 311 and 312. The specific criteria that the specialist will consider when examining a literary work, a work of the performing arts, or a work of the visual arts are discussed in Chapters 700, 800, and 900.
309.1 Prior Works and Prior Registrations
As a general rule, the registration specialist will not search the U.S. Copyright Office’s records to determine if the work has been registered before, unless there is conflicting information in the registration materials or other sources of information that are known by the Office or the general public. The specialist will not compare the deposit copy(ies) with other works that have been previously registered with the Office. Likewise, the specialist generally will not compare the deposit copy(ies) with other works to determine whether the applicant is attempting to register a work that is substantially similar to another work of authorship, unless the applicant appears to be asserting a claim in a work that is unusually similar to another work of authorship that is known to the specialist.
309.2 Facts Stated in the Application
The U.S. Copyright Office generally will accept the facts stated in the application and other registration materials, unless they are implausible or conflict with information in
