1904.2 Facts Stated in the Application
As a general rule, the U.S. Copyright Office will not conduct its own factual investigation to determine whether a work is published or unpublished or to confirm the truth of the statements made in the application concerning publication.
Ordinarily, the Office will accept the facts stated in the application, unless they are implausible or conflict with information provided elsewhere in the registration materials, the Office's records, or other sources of information that are known by the Office.
1904.3 Claim in a Published or Unpublished Work Contradicted by Information Provided Elsewhere, such as in the Registration Materials
As a general rule, if the applicant affirmatively states that the work is unpublished or fails to provide a date of first publication in the application, the Office will register the work as an unpublished work, unless the information provided in the deposit copy or in other sources of information known by the Office clearly indicate that the work has been published.
Likewise, if the applicant affirmatively states that the work has been published and provides a date of first publication in the application, the Office generally will register the work as a published work, unless information provided in the deposit copies or in other sources of information known by the Office clearly suggest that the work is unpublished.
If the deposit copy(ies) or other information known by the Office clearly suggest that the work is published or unpublished and if it appears that the applicant provided or failed to provide a date of publication by mistake, the registration specialist may communicate with the applicant. For examples of situations that may prompt a communication concerning publication, see Chapter 600, Sections 612.7(A) and 612.7(B).
1905 Distribution of Copies or Phonorecords of a Work
As discussed in Section 1902, publication occurs when copies or phonorecords of a work are distributed to the public by or with the authority of the copyright owner. These issues are discussed in Sections 1905.1 through 1905.3 below.
1905.1 Distribution to the Public
Section 101 of the Copyright Act states a work is published when copies or phonorecords of that work are distributed "to the public." 17 U.S.C. § 101. Specifically, publication occurs when one or more copies or phonorecords are distributed to a member of the public who is not subject to any express or implied restrictions concerning the disclosure of the content of that work H.R. Rep. 94-1476, at 138 (1976), reprinted in 1976 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 5754.
Examples:
• Selling copies of a textbook to a local school board constitutes publication of that work.
Chapter 1900 : 6
12/22/2014
