contributed to the website or the website content, preferably using one or more of the terms set forth in Section 1009.6(A). If the claim to copyright is unclear, the registration specialist may communicate with the applicant or may refuse registration. For representative examples of unclear terms that may prompt a communication from the registration specialist, see Chapter 600, Sections 618.8(A)(1) through 618.8(A)(11).
1009.6(C) Unacceptable Terminology for an Application to Register a Website or Website Content
As discussed in Section 1006, a website does not constitute copyrightable subject matter in and of itself. The applicant should not use the term "website," "webpage," "screen," or the like in the Author Created field or the Nature of Authorship space, because these terms are vague, misleading, and fail to identify the particular authorship that the author contributed to the work.
If the applicant asserts a claim in both the copyrightable and uncopyrightable features of a website, the registration specialist may annotate the application to indicate that the registration does not extend to the uncopyrightable features. If the applicant expressly asserts a claim to copyright in any feature of the website that is uncopyrightable, the specialist may communicate with the applicant or may refuse registration if the claim appears to be based solely on those features. Examples of unacceptable terms include the following or any combination of the following:
• Concept
• Design(s)
• Format
• Layout
• Lettering
• Look and feel
• Website
• Website design
• Webpage
• Screen
• Entire work, entire website, or similar terms
• Hyperlinks
• Hyperlink structure
• Menu choices
• User interface
• Game play
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12/22/2014
