themselves." H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 54 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. 5659, 5667. Specifically, a database and/or the updates or revisions to that database may contain the following forms of authorship:
• The selection authorship involved in choosing the material or data that is included in the database.
• The coordination authorship involved in classifying, categorizing ordering, or grouping the material or data.
• The arrangement authorship involved in determining the placement or arrangement of the material or data within the database as a whole.
• The authorship in the material or data that appears within the database, such as the text and photographs that appear in a database of real estate listings or the data that appears in a database of financial information.
Each form of authorship may be registered using the group registration option for databases, provided that the work contains a sufficient amount of original expression and provided that the claimant owns the copyright in that material.
A group of updates or revisions should be submitted for group registration only if the updates or revisions meet the statutory standard for an original work of authorship. If they do not "satisfy the original work of authorship standard for copyright protection, then no new registration is necessary or warranted." Registration of Claims to Copyright, Registration and Deposit of Databases, 54 Fed. Reg. 13,177, 13,179 (Mar. 31, 1989). "Where the Office determines that only a few minor revisions have been made in the representative deposit, registration will be subject to question, and absent more justification, will be denied." Id.
1117.3 Eligibility Requirements
An applicant may use this group registration option to register a group of updates or revisions to a database, provided that the following conditions have been met:
• The updates or revisions must be original works of authorship.
• The updates or revisions must be added to a database as defined in Section 1117.1.
• All the updates or revisions to the database must have the same general title.
• The subject and general content of the updates or revisions must be similar.
• The organization of the updates or revisions must be similar.
• All the updates or revisions must be owned by the same copyright claimant.
In addition, the applicant must satisfy the following conditions if the database is unpublished:
Chapter 1100 : 69
12/22/2014
