There is a limited exception to this rule. Section 104(b)(5) of the Act states that works first published by the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies, or first published by the Organization of American States are eligible for copyright protection in the United States. See 17 U.S.C. § 104(b)(5).
A work that does not constitute a government edict may be registered, even if it was prepared by an officer or employee of a state, local, territorial, or foreign government while acting within the course of his or her official duties. For example, the Office may register a tourist magazine written and published by Arizona’s department of tourism or a map created and published by the public transit authority for the city of Detroit. Likewise, the Office may register annotations that summarize or comment upon legal materials issued by a federal, state, local, or foreign government, unless the annotations themselves have the force of law. See Chapter 700, Section 717.1.
313.6(D) Works in the Public Domain
Works that are in the public domain in the United States cannot be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. A copyrighted work enters the public domain in the United States when “its full copyright term has expired.” Golan v. Holder, 132 S. Ct. 873, 878 (2012). Works that do not comply with certain statutory formalities may also be in the public domain, such as U.S. works published without a copyright notice on or before March 1, 1989, or U.S. works published or registered on or before December 31, 1963 that were not renewed in a timely manner. Likewise, works that are not copyrightable are in the public domain, such as works that have not been fixed in a tangible medium of expression or works that merely contain a de minimis amount of authorship.
A derivative work, compilation, or collective work that contains public domain material may be registered, provided that the new work contains a sufficient amount of original authorship. The copyright in such works covers the compilation authorship or the new material that the author contributed to the derivative work, the compilation, or the collective work, but it “is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the [public domain] material.” 17 U.S.C. § 103(b).
314 Use of Protected Names, Characters, Slogans, Symbols, Seals, Emblems, and Insignia
Occasionally, the U.S. Copyright Office receives works that contain names, characters, slogans, symbols, seals, emblems, or insignia that may be restricted by federal law, such as “Olympic,” “Smokey Bear,” “Woodsy Owl,” “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute,” the 4-H Club Emblem, or the sign of the Red Cross. See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. §§ 700–716; 36 U.S.C. § 220506.
If the work contains a sufficient amount of original authorship and if the federally protected material has been excluded from the claim, the registration specialist may register the claim without communicating with the applicant. By contrast, if the specialist is aware that the work contains federally protected material that has not been excluded from the claim, the specialist may notify the applicant that the material appears to be restricted and may ask the applicant whether that material has been used in a lawful manner.
