drawings on December 1, 1990 if the design remained unconstructed as of December 31, 2002. 37 C.F.R. § 202.11[d](3][ii].
The Office will refuse to register these types of designs as an architectural work. The plans, drawings, or models for such works may be registered as a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, but the registration for such works does not extend to a building constructed from the plan, drawing, or model.
923.3 Application Tips for Architectural Works
To register an architectural work using the online application, the applicant should select "Work of the Visual Arts" in the field marked "Type of Work." To register an architectural work with a paper application, the applicant should use Form VA.
The title of the building should be provided in the Title field/space and the date of construction for the building, if any, should be provided in the Year of Completion fields/spaces. If the building has not been constructed, the applicant should state "not yet constructed" in the Title field/space following the title of the work. 37 C.F.R. § 202.11(c)(3).
If the architectural work has been published, the applicant should provide the date and nation of first publication in the Publication field/space. An architectural work is deemed published "when underlying plans or drawings of the building or other copies of the building design are distributed or made available to the general public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. Construction of a building does not itself constitute publication for purposes of registration, unless multiple copies are constructed." 37 C.F.R. § 202.11(c)(5).
The applicant should check the box marked "architectural work" in the Author Created field when completing an online application or in the Nature of Authorship space when completing a paper application.
An application may cover only one architectural work, regardless of whether the work is published or unpublished. The U.S. Copyright Office will not register multiple architectural works as a group of related works or as an unpublished collection. If the applicant intends to register variations on a single plan, such as a plan for tract housing, the applicant must submit a separate application for each house model with all accompanying floor plan options, elevations, and styles that are applicable to that particular model. 37 C.F.R. § 202.11(c)(2).
For information concerning the deposit requirements for architectural works, see Chapter 1500, Section 1509.3(D).
924 Registration Requirements for Useful Articles
As discussed in Section 906.8, "useful articles" are not protected by copyright law. However, the purely ornamental or decorative pictorial, graphic, or sculptural features of a useful article may be registered if they can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing as works of authorship independently of, the utilitarian aspects of that article. 17 U.S.C. § 101 (definition of "pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works"). This
Chapter 900 : 38
12/22/2014
