Applicants should avoid using the terms "device," "equipment," "sculpture," "artwork," "design," "housing," or "container" to refer to content that appears on the face or surface of the device. Applicants should avoid using the terms "format," "layout," and "compilation" to refer to the overall design features or to the overall combination of content on the face or surface of the device. Applicants also should avoid using vague terms, such as "two-dimensional artwork" or "entire work."
924.3(D) X-Rays, Medical Imaging, and Non-Medical Echo Sonography
Generally, the U.S. Copyright Office will not register medical x-rays or imaging, regardless of whether they are claimed on an application as photographs, images, artwork, or graphics. These types of images are considered useful articles, because they have an intrinsic utilitarian function, and the skill or craft used to create the images (if any) is dictated by that functional purpose. The following is a nonexhaustive list of such works:
• Medical x-rays.
• Magnetic resonance imaging.
• Echocardiography.
• Echo mammography.
• Varieties of ultrasound.
• Iodinated ultra venous imaging.
• Angiography.
• Electrocardiography.
• Three-dimensional computed tomography.
• Positron emission tomography.
• Electroencephalography imaging.
• Computed axial tomography.
For the same reasons, the Office will not register surveys of water and land masses that are captured by the data that echo-sounders and similar equipment produce.
When x-rays or other medical images are used to illustrate a literary work, such as medical textbooks, excavation training guides, and journal articles, the Office may accept a claim in a "compilation of images," "text and illustrations," "text and illustrative diagrams," or "text and figures." The registration for such works will cover the text and the copyrightable compilation authorship, but not the underlying x-rays or medical images.
Chapter 900 : 45
12/22/2014
