If the application appears to be in order, the Office will register the adverse claim. The Office will notify the other party (or that party's duly authorized agent) that the Office received an adverse claim and that a separate registration has been issued to that party.
If the Office discovers that two or more parties are seeking to register the exact same work, the Office will examine each application to determine if the statutory and regulatory requirements have been met. The sequence that each application is received in the Office is irrelevant to this determination, and the Office will not conduct opposition or interference proceedings to determine whether one application should be given priority over the other. See Cancellation of Completed Registrations, 50 Fed. Reg. 40,833, 40,835 (Oct. 7, 1985) (noting the Office does not resolve factual disputes or conduct adversarial proceedings). The Office will inform each party of the other party's claim, and will ask each party if he or she wishes to proceed with his or her application. If so, the Office will issue a separate registration to each applicant. If an applicant does not respond to the Office's inquiry, the file for that application will be closed.
In most cases, if the applicant responds to the inquiry, the Office will issue a separate registration to each party and will create a separate public record for each registration. The Office will not cancel the other registration or the registration number that has been assigned to that registration, it will not change the information set forth in the other registration or the public record for that registration, and it will not cross-reference those records with the records for the new registration. Instead, each registration will coexist with each other in the public record.
Examples:
• Brandlmage LLC created a logo for the Shenanigans Amusement Park. Shenanigans registered the logo, naming itself as the sole author and copyright claimant and stating that the logo was created for the amusement park as a work made for hire. Brandlmage claims that the registration is invalid, because a logo is not one of the types of works that can be created as a work made for hire and because Brandlmage never assigned the copyright in this work to Shenanigans. The information in the basic registration cannot be corrected with a supplementary registration. However, Brandlmage may file a new application for a new basic registration naming itself as the sole author and the sole copyright claimant. If Brandlmage submits a new application, the Office may notify Shenanigans that the filing has been made, provided that the Office is aware that Brandlmage is seeking to register the same work.
• Mark O'Meara registered a podcast, naming himself as the copyright claimant. Buzz Allston subsequently sends a letter to the Office stating that the registration is invalid, because Buzz (not Mark) owns the copyright in this work. The Office will refuse to cancel or amend Mark's registration and will explain that the Office does not resolve factual disputes or conduct adversarial proceedings. Instead, the Office will suggest that Buzz submit an application to register the podcast in his own name. If Buzz's application is
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