42,286 (July 22, 2005); Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims, 70 Fed. Reg. 61,905, 61,905-06 [Oct. 27, 2005).
1603 Eligibility Requirements
A work of authorship must satisfy the following criteria in order to qualify for preregistration:
• The work must be a motion picture; a sound recording; a musical composition;
a literary work being prepared for publication in book form; a computer program; a videogame; or a photograph that is intended to advertise or market a particular product or service;
• The work must be copyrightable;
• The author must have begun to create the work;
• The work must be unpublished; and
• The work must be in the process of being prepared for commercial distribution.
37 C.F.R. § 202.16. A work that satisfies all of these requirements is eligible for preregistration, regardless of whether it is intended to be distributed in a physical or electronic format. See 37 C.F.R. § 202.16(b)(3); see also Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims, 70 Fed. Reg. 42,286, 42,287 (July 22, 2005); Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims, 70 Fed. Reg. 61,905, 61,905-06 (Oct. 27, 2005). These requirements are discussed in Sections 1603.1 through 1603.5.
If the work described in the application does not meet these requirements, the Office will reject the application. The Office typically receives fewer than 2,000 applications for preregistration each year (compared with more than half a million applications for registration), and the Office rejects many of these applications because the work is not eligible for this procedure.
1603.1 Works That Are Eligible for Preregistration
Congress directed the Register of Copyrights to issue preregistrations for any work of authorship that falls within a class of works that has had a history of infringement prior to the authorized commercial distribution by the copyright owner. 17 U.S.C. § 408(f)(1)- (2). The Office determined that there has been a substantial history of prerelease infringement involving the following classes of works:
• Motion pictures.
• Sound recordings.
• Musical compositions.
• Literary works being prepared for publication in book form.
Chapter 1600 : 5
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