understood that the game as a whole encompasses the ideas underlying the game. For the same reason, applicants should not assert a claim in the methods for playing the game.
Examples:
• Gloria Glam files an application to register a new board game. In her application she asserts a claim in "text and board artwork." The game board contains intricate designs and the instructions consist of two pages of text. The registration specialist will register the claim.
• Garfield Grant files an application for a new type of soccer playing field. The deposit material contains text and a set of technical drawings. The registration specialist will refuse to register the playing field itself, but will register the drawings and text that describe the field. The registration will extend only to the actual descriptive text and drawings and not to the design for the field itself.
• Glenn Garner files an application to register a "new game of chess, consisting of a new way to play the game, new playing pieces, and a new board with three levels." The registration specialist may register any descriptive text and the design of the playing pieces if they contain a sufficient amount of creative expression. However, the specialist will refuse to register the idea for and method of playing the new game, as well as the idea of playing the game on a board split into three levels.
For information on how to register purely literary aspects of a game, see Chapter 700, Section 714. For information concerning the deposit requirements for games, see Chapter 1500, Sections 1509.1(B) and 1509.3(A)(7].
911 Characters
The original, visual aspects of a character may be protected by copyright if they are sufficiently original. This may include the physical attributes of the character, such as facial features and specific body shape, as well as images of clothing and any other visual elements.
The U.S. Copyright Office will register visual art works that depict a character, such as drawings, sculptures, and paintings. A registration for such works extends to the particular authorship depicted in the deposit material, but does not extend to unfixed characteristics of the character that are not depicted in the deposit. Nor does it cover the name or the general idea for the character.
When completing an application to register such works, the applicant should use an appropriate term to describe the authorship embodied in the deposit material, such as "2-D artwork," "photograph," or "text." Applicants should not refer to or assert claims in
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