strip or other work that features the same character. (For more information concerning characters, see Section 911.)
In some cases it may be possible to register a number of cartoons, comic strips, or comic books with one application and one filing fee. If all the works are unpublished it may be possible to register them as an unpublished collection. If all the works were physically bundled together by the claimant for distribution to the public as a single, integrated unit, and if all the works were first published in that integrated unit it may be possible to register them using the unit of publication option. However, the works cannot be aggregated simply for the purpose of registration; instead they must have been first distributed to the public in the packaged unit. If all of the works were first published as a contribution to a periodical, such as a newspaper or magazine, it may be possible to register the contributions as a group. For detailed information concerning unpublished collections, the unit of publication option, and the group registration option for contributions to periodicals, see Chapter 1100, Sections 1106, 1107, and 1115.
Comic books are typically created by multiple authors, and the issues surrounding the authorship and ownership of the various contributions can be complex. In some cases, the creators may prepare their contributions on a work for hire basis as employees or pursuant to a freelancer work made for hire agreement. In some cases, the comic book may be a joint work. In other cases, different authors may create different aspects of the comic book, with some aspects originating from the publisher and other aspects originating from one or more individual, nonemployee authors [i.e., derivative works]. For example, the publisher may claim ownership of the characters and the basic story, and may hire others to create the artwork, text, and/or lettering for particular issues. Then a freelance or staff contributor may contribute coloring and editing. If all of the work is done on a work made for hire basis, the authorship is clearly owned by the publisher, and as such the publisher should be named as the claimant.
If multiple authors contributed to the comic book as individual authors (not as joint authors or under a work made for hire agreement), and if it is unclear from the face of the deposit copy(ies] which author created what authorship and on what basis, the applicant should provide that information in the Author Created field of the online application or the Nature of Authorship space of the paper application. Such claims may require multiple separate applications to register the derivative authorship [e.g., an application for the pencil drawings and a separate application for the coloring of the preexisting drawings].
In some cases, comic book publishers license the use of another parly's characters and stories. In other cases, the publisher creates the stories, but the characters have been licensed. In such cases, the applicant should exclude the licensed characters and/or stories from the claim by stating "licensed character" or "licensed character and storyline" in the Material Excluded / Preexisting Materials field/space. The claimant should not name the licensor of the preexisting characters and/or stories as an author of the new text and artwork in the comic book.
The registration specialist will communicate with the applicant if the authorship or ownership information provided in the application is unclear or inconsistent with other statements in the application, the deposit copy(ies), or industry practice. In addition, the
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