COMPENDIUM: Chapter 1300
Vessel Designs
1301 What This Chapter Covers
This Chapter provides information on the U.S. Copyright Office's practices and procedures for examining and registering claims to vessel designs and for recording documents related to them. Vessel designs are protected pursuant to the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act of 1998 ("VHDPA"], as amended by the Vessel Hull Design Protection Amendments of 2008, and codified as Chapter 13 of the Copyright Act.
1302 Vessel Design Protection Distinguished from Copyright Protection
Vessel design protection is not a form of copyright protection. Congress enacted the VHDPA to provide a new, separate form of special protection for vessel designs in response to the needs of the boat industry, not as an amendment to the copyright law. The legal requirements for vessel design protection differ from those for copyright protection in terms of eligibility for protection, ownership rights, registration procedures, term of protection, and remedies for rights violations.
Vessel designs — the overall shape and form of a water craft's deck or hull — are useful articles and, as such, cannot be protected by copyright law. See Section 1303.7. Purely ornamental two- and three-dimensional decorations on or in the surfaces of the deck or hull might be copyrightable, but the deck and hull themselves are not.
Chapter 13 of Title 17 does not provide, extend, or limit copyright protection for drawings, models, or statuaries of vessels. For more information on protection for ornamental designs, drawings, and other visual arts works, see Chapter 900. For a general discussion of useful articles, see Chapter 900, Section 924.
1303 Definitions
1303.1 Deck
A "deck" is "the horizontal surface of a vessel that covers the hull, including exterior cabin and cockpit surfaces, and exclusive of masts, sails, yards, rigging, hardware, fixtures, and other attachments." 17 U.S.C. § 1301(b)(7).
1303.2 Hull
A "hull" is "the exterior frame or body of a vessel, exclusive of the deck, superstructure, masts, sails, yards, rigging, hardware, fixtures, and other attachments." 17 U.S.C. § 1301(b)(4).
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12/22/2014
