COMPENDIUM: Chapter 1700
Administrative Appeals
1701 What This Chapter Covers
This Chapter discusses the process for appealing a refusal to register a copyright claim within the U.S. Copyright Office.
1702 Registration Refused After Examination
The U.S. Copyright Office does not register all claims to copyright. The Office may refuse to register claims that do not meet the statutory requirements for copyright registration, including on the following grounds:
• The applicant failed to submit a complete application, complete filing fee, and/or complete deposit copy(ies).
• The work is not fixed in a tangible medium of expression.
• The work lacks human authorship.
• The applicant asserts a claim to copyright in a work that is not covered by U.S. copyright law. See 17 U.S.C. §§ 102, 103.
• The work was not independently created.
• The work lacks the minimum level of creative authorship to support a copyright claim.
• The work is in the public domain.
• The work is a sound recording that was fixed before February 15, 1972 [i.e., the date on which sound recordings became eligible for federal copyright protection).
• The work is an architectural work created before December 1, 1990 [i.e., the date on which architectural works became eligible for federal copyright protection), or the application to register the architectural work does not otherwise meet the requirements set forth in Copyright Office regulations. See 37 C.F.R. § 202.11.
• The work is ineligible for copyright protection in the United States based on the author's citizenship or domicile, based on the nation of first publication, or any other factor set forth in Section 104 of the Copyright Act.
• The applicant is not authorized to register a claim in the work.
• The claimant named in the application is not a proper copyright claimant.
Chapter 1700 : 3
12/22/2014
