recording are distributed to the public, or (ii) when copies of the sound recording are offered to a group of persons for further distribution, public performance, or public display.
• When an unpublished painting is reproduced in a book, the elements of the painting that appear in the book are published when (i) copies of the book are distributed to the public, or (ii) when copies of the book are offered to a group of persons for further distribution, public performance, or public display.
• When an unpublished sculpture is featured in a motion picture, the publication of the motion picture may publish the sculpture if the motion picture discloses a sufficient amount of three-dimensional authorship to effectuate a publication of a sculptural work.
1909.2 Publishing a Portion of a Work
Publishing a portion of a work does not necessarily mean that the work as a whole has been published. As a general rule, publication applies only to the specific portions of the work that have been distributed to the public or offered for distribution to a group of persons for the purpose of further distribution, public performance, or public display.
Examples:
• Publishing a detailed summary of a novel does not publish the novel as a whole.
• Publishing a treatment or synopsis of a motion picture does not publish the motion picture as a whole.
• Publishing a motion picture that is based on an unpublished manuscript publishes the elements of the manuscript that are embodied in the motion picture, but it does not publish the manuscript as a whole.
1909.3 Publishing Separate Parts or Installments of a Work
When various parts or installments of a work are published separately, each part or installment is considered a separate work. As a general rule, an applicant should prepare a separate application, filing fee, and deposit for each part or installment of a work if those parts or installments were published separately. If the various parts or installments were published on different dates, the applicant should provide a separate date of publication for each part or installment.
NOTE: To avoid the need for filing multiple applications, applicants are encouraged to register an unpublished work as a whole before the various parts or installments of that work are published.
For a general discussion of the practices and procedures for registering multiple versions of the same work, see Chapter 500, Section 512.
Chapter 1900 : 14
12/22/2014
