elements for copyrightable authorship and will ask the applicant to delete the other items from the claim.
924.3(A)(3) Decorative Masks
Decorative masks are masks that may be worn as part of a costume or displayed as a decorative adornment. An ornamental or decorative head or face mask may be registered if it contains a sufficient amount of copyrightable pictorial, graphic, or sculptural authorship. However, the registration for a mask does not extend to any functional or mechanical aspects of the work, such as clasps, straps, snaps, locks, or air vents.
Unlike body costumes, federal courts and the U.S. Copyright Office generally do not consider head and face masks to be useful articles. Therefore, when a registration specialist examines a mask for copyrightable authorship, the specialist will not apply the separability test. See generally Registrability of Costume Designs, 56 Fed. Reg. 56,530 (Nov. 5, 1991). If the mask is combined with a costume or other useful article, the specialist will ask the applicant to exclude those functional elements from the claim.
Example:
• Dinah Dunn submits a claim to register a nose mask in the shape of a pig snout. The mask would not be considered a useful article because it does not perform a utilitarian function, and it may be eligible for registration if it is sufficiently creative. See Masquerade Novelty, Inc. v. Unique Industries, Inc., 912 F.2d 663, 671 (3d Cir. 1993).
924.3(B) Blank Forms
The U.S. Copyright Office will not register blank forms that are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information, regardless of how they are described in an application. 37 C.F.R. § 202.1(c). Examples of blank forms include time cards, graph paper, account books, diaries, bank checks, scorecards, address books, report forms, and order forms. Id.
Blank forms are not copyrightable, because they are utilitarian and they are not separable from the ideas, procedures, processes, systems, methods, concepts, principles, or discoveries that they are intended to record or implement. 17 U.S.C. § 102(b). Likewise, the Office will refuse to register claims that are based solely on the arrangement, spacing, or juxtaposition of text matter, because this type of material falls within the realm of uncopyrightable ideas or concepts. Registration of Claims to Copyright; Notice of Termination of Inquiry Regarding Blank Forms, 45 Fed. Reg. 63,297 (Sept. 24, 1980). However, a registration specialist may register literary or visual arts content that has been added or applied to a blank form if it is copyrightable, such as artwork that decorates the form or literary elements that describe or explain how to complete the form. See id. at 63,298.
Chapter 900 : 43
12/22/2014
