claim in the selection, coordination, and/or arrangement of the photographs, rather than the actual items depicted in those images.
Moreover, the self-contained works must be distributed to the public as an integral part of the unit. A unit that merely offers works to the public without distributing actual copies or phonorecords does not satisfy this requirement. Likewise, a unit that merely offers, distributes, or sells works to wholesalers, distributors, retailers, or other intermediaries for the purpose of further distribution, public performance, or display does not satisfy this requirement. For instance, when a record company bundles a compilation of tracks together with cover art and liner notes, and distributes them to the public as an album, the album would qualify as a unit of publication, regardless of whether the tracks are distributed on physical phonorecords or as a package of files for digital download. By contrast, when a record company distributes tracks to the public on an individual basis or licenses its entire catalog to a streaming website to facilitate the public performance of those tracks, neither the tracks nor the catalog would qualify as a unit of publication.
1107.2 Eligibility Requirements
An applicant may register a group of separately fixed works with one application,
one filing fee, and one set of deposit copies, provided that the following conditions have
been met:
• All of the copyrightable elements must be recognizable as self-contained works.
• All of the works claimed in the application must be first published as a single unit on the same date.
• The copyright claimant for all of the works claimed in the unit must be the same. See 37 C.F.R. § 202.3(b)(4)(i)(A).
In addition, the claimant in the unit must be the person or entity that physically bundled the works and elements together into the integrated unit.
Works that do not satisfy these requirements cannot be registered with the unit of publication option.
In particular, an applicant cannot use this option to register a number of published and unpublished works. An applicant cannot use this option if the works were published on different dates. An applicant cannot use this option if the works were published in different units or first distributed as separate, individual works. (For a definition and discussion of publication, see Chapter 1900.) Moreover, the unit cannot be created merely for the purpose of registration; instead it must have been distributed to the public as a single, integrated unit.
The application should expressly state that the applicant is seeking to register a number of works with the unit of publication option.
Chapter 1100 : 22
12/22/2014
