2004.2 Bilateral Copyright Treaties and Presidential Proclamations
The United States has entered into bilateral treaties with some foreign countries. These treaties often are in addition to multilateral treaties and try to provide a further layer of protection. For a list of specific U.S. bilateral treaties, see Circular 38(a), International Copyright Relations of the United States (www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38a.pdf).
Additionally, there have been numerous Presidential proclamations throughout the years specifying countries to which the United States has extended copyright law protection. Presidential proclamations were especially common prior to the United States's adherence to the Berne Convention, which allowed the United States to provide protection to foreign works more easily. These proclamations are included as part of the "bilateral" agreements listed in Circular 38(a).
2005 Registration Issues
This Section discusses frequent registration issues that arise in connection with foreign works.
2005.1 Multiple Authors of a Foreign Work
If the foreign work was created by multiple authors and if eligibility is based on the domicile or nationality of those authors, the work will be eligible for registration as long as any one of the authors' nationalities or domiciles is sufficient. For example, if the work was created by three authors, two of whom are from Iran (a country that has no copyright treaties with the United States] and one of whom is from France (a country that does have copyright relations with the United States), the work would be eligible for registration.
2005.2 Authors with Multiple Nationalities
If a work's eligibility is based on the author's nationality and the author has more than one nationality (for example, if the author has dual citizenship), the work will be eligible for registration if either of the author's nationalities satisfy the Copyright Act's eligibility requirements.
2005.3 Domicile or First Publication in the Territorial Areas of the United States
Domicile or first publication in any of the territorial areas under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government — other than the several states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the organized territories — does not confer eligibility for registration. Such areas include the unorganized territories, the trust territories, and other possessions of the United States. However, works by domiciliaries of, or works first published in, these areas may be eligible on the basis of the nationality of the author. Since U.S. nationals include persons born in the outlying possessions of the United States, eligibility in such cases may be conferred on that basis.
Chapter 2000 : 9
12/22/2014
