Sandros, Associate General, A. Renee Coe, Senior Attorney, United States Copyright Office, Washington, D.C.; Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.
Before WIDENER, TRAXLER, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge TRAXLER wrote the opinion, in which Judge WIDENER and Judge DUNCAN joined.
OPINION
TRAXLER, Circuit Judge.
William Darden filed this action under the Administrative Procedure Act against Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, seeking to set aside a decision of the United States Copyright Office denying Darden’s applications for copyright registration. See 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); 17 U.S.C. § 701(e). Finding no abuse of discretion in the Register’s refusal to issue a copyright registration for Darden’s works, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Register.
I.
Darden created a website called “appraisers.com,” an online referral service for consumers to locate real estate appraisers throughout the United States. The website features a series of maps that enable a user to find an appraiser in a desired location by pointing to and clicking on the appropriate map. The homepage of appraisers.com features a stylized map of the United States that serves as a link to a separate page displaying a detailed map of any state selected by the user. The state maps, in turn, are divided into counties; the consumer can retrieve a list of local appraisers by selecting the appropriate county.
In developing his website, Darden hired Sean Pecor, a web designer, to create the maps. Pecor started with a digital Census map of the United States, colored the map blue, and added shading to give the map a three-dimensional effect. Pecor selected a font to use in labeling the states, and he added call-out labels as well. Pecor used the same process for the individual maps of each state. After completing the project, Pecor assigned Darden any copyright interest he held in the maps and the design of the website.
In May 2002, Darden filed an application with the Copyright Office seeking to register his website, which he titled “APPRAISERS dotCOM” for purposes of the application, as a technical drawing. Darden described APPRAISERSdotCOM as a derivative work based on “US Census black and white outline maps” and “clip art.” J.A. 125. Darden’s application identified “graphics, text, colors, and arrangement” as the material that he added to the preexisting work and in which he claimed copyright protection. J.A. 125. Additionally, Darden filed a separate application for registration of the work “Maps for APPRAISERSdotCOM.” J.A. 286. Darden described his “Maps” work as a derivative work that, similar to the “APPRAISERSdotCOM” work, was based on preexisting “US Census black and white outline maps.” J.A. 287. He claimed copyright ownership in the additions made by Pecor to the preexisting census maps: “font and color selection; visual effects such as relief, shadowing, and shading; labeling; call-outs.” J.A. 287.
The Examining Division of the Copyright Office rejected both applications. With respect to Darden’s claim in the Maps themselves, the examiner concluded that the work “lack[ed] the authorship nec-
