supplementary registration. Instead, Kimberly should record the legal document that licensed her image to the photo library.
For guidance concerning the practices and procedures for recording a transfer or other document with the Office, see Chapter 2300.
If the work was unpublished when the application for the basic registration was submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office and then published sometime thereafter, the date of publication cannot be added to the registration record with a supplementary registration. Instead, the applicant should submit a new application for a new basic registration for the first published edition of that work (even if the published version "is substantially the same as the unpublished version"]. See 17 U.S.C. § 408(e); 37 C.F.R. §
Ordinarily, if the work was published on or before the effective date of registration for the basic registration and if the applicant mistakenly claimed that the work was unpublished as of that date, the date of publication cannot be added to the registration record with a supplementary registration. Instead, the applicant should submit a new application for a new basic registration using the procedure described in Section 1803 (subject to the limited exception discussed below).
In most cases, these types of publication issues cannot be corrected with a supplementary registration because the deposit requirement for a published work and an unpublished work are not the same. As a general rule, the applicant must submit two complete copies of the best edition if the work has been published, but only one complete copy is required for an unpublished work. See Chapter 1500, Sections 1505.1 and 1505.2. By contrast, if an unpublished work was erroneously registered as a published work, the date of publication may be corrected with a supplementary registration, because the deposit copies for a published work usually satisfy the deposit requirement for an unpublished work. See Section 1802.6(1).
There is a limited exception to this rule. If a published work was erroneously registered as an unpublished work, the date of publication may be added to the registration record with a supplementary registration, provided that (i) the work was published on or after March 1, 1989, and (ii) the deposit requirement for that type of work would be the same regardless of whether the work was published or unpublished, such as architectural blueprints, mechanical drawings, globes, greetings cards, postcards, commercial prints and labels, as well as computer programs, databases, or other types of works that may be registered with identifying material.
A supplementary registration may be used only to correct or amplify the information set forth in a certificate of registration. The U.S. Copyright Office will not issue a supplementary registration to correct an error in the deposit copy(ies) that were submitted with the application for basic registration. Likewise, the Office will not issue a supplementary registration to reflect subsequent changes in the content of the work. See 37 C.F.R. § 201.5(b)(2)(iii)(B).
1802.7(C)
Publication Issues
202.3(b)(ll)(i).
1802.7(D)
Issues Involving the Deposit Copy(ies)
Chapter 1800 : 18
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