§ 408. — Copyright registration in general.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 17USC408]
TITLE 17--COPYRIGHTS
CHAPTER 4--COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION
Sec. 408. Copyright registration in general
(a) Registration Permissive.--At any time during the subsistence of
the first term of copyright in any published or unpublished work in
which the copyright was secured before January 1, 1978, and during the
subsistence of any copyright secured on or after that date, the owner of
copyright or of any exclusive right in the work may obtain registration
of the copyright claim by delivering to the Copyright Office the deposit
specified by this section, together with the application and fee
specified by sections 409 and 708. Such registration is not a condition
of copyright protection.
(b) Deposit for Copyright Registration.--Except as provided by
subsection (c), the material deposited for registration shall include--
(1) in the case of an unpublished work, one complete copy or
phonorecord;
(2) in the case of a published work, two complete copies or
phonorecords of the best edition;
(3) in the case of a work first published outside the United
States, one complete copy or phonorecord as so published;
(4) in the case of a contribution to a collective work, one
complete copy or phonorecord of the best edition of the collective
work.
Copies or phonorecords deposited for the Library of Congress under
section 407 may be used to satisfy the deposit provisions of this
section, if they are accompanied by the prescribed application and fee,
and by any additional identifying material that the Register may, by
regulation, require. The Register shall also prescribe regulations
establishing requirements under which copies or phonorecords acquired
for the Library of Congress under subsection (e) of section 407,
otherwise than by deposit, may be used to satisfy the deposit provisions
of this section.
(c) Administrative Classification and Optional Deposit.--
(1) The Register of Copyrights is authorized to specify by
regulation the administrative classes into which works are to be
placed for purposes of deposit and registration, and the nature of
the copies or phonorecords to be deposited in the various classes
specified. The regulations may require or permit, for particular
classes, the deposit of identifying material instead of copies or
phonorecords, the deposit of only one copy or phonorecord where two
would normally be required, or a single registration for a group of
related works. This administrative classification of works has no
significance with respect to the subject matter of copyright or the
exclusive rights provided by this title.
(2) Without prejudice to the general authority provided under
clause (1), the Register of Copyrights shall establish regulations
specifically permitting a single registration for a group of works
by the same individual author, all first published as contributions
to periodicals, including newspapers, within a twelve-month period,
on the basis of a single deposit, application, and registration fee,
under the following conditions:
(A) if the deposit consists of one copy of the entire issue
of the periodical, or of the entire section in the case of a
newspaper, in which each contribution was first published; and
(B) if the application identifies each work separately,
including the periodical containing it and its date of first
publication.
(3) As an alternative to separate renewal registrations under
subsection (a) of section 304, a single renewal registration may be
made for a group of works by the same individual author, all first
published as contributions to periodicals, including newspapers,
upon the filing of a single application and fee, under all of the
following conditions:
(A) the renewal claimant or claimants, and the basis of
claim or claims under section 304(a), is the same for each of
the works; and
(B) the works were all copyrighted upon their first
publication, either through separate copyright notice and
registration or by virtue of a general copyright notice in the
periodical issue as a whole; and
(C) the renewal application and fee are received not more
than twenty-eight or less than twenty-seven years after the
thirty-first day of December of the calendar year in which all
of the works were first published; and
(D) the renewal application identifies each work separately,
including the periodical containing it and its date of first
publication.
(d) Corrections and Amplifications.--The Register may also
establish, by regulation, formal procedures for the filing of an
application for supplementary registration, to correct an error in a
copyright registration or to amplify the information given in a
registration. Such application shall be accompanied by the fee provided
by section 708, and shall clearly identify the registration to be
corrected or amplified. The information contained in a supplementary
registration augments but does not supersede that contained in the
earlier registration.
(e) Published Edition of Previously Registered Work.--Registration
for the first published edition of a work previously registered in
unpublished form may be made even though the work as published is
substantially the same as the unpublished version.
(Pub. L. 94-553, title I, Sec. 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2580; Pub.
L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a), Oct. 31, 1988, 102 Stat. 2859; Pub. L. 102-307,
title I, Sec. 102(e), June 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 266.)
Historical and Revision Notes
house report no. 94-1476
Permissive Registration. Under section 408(a), registration of a
claim to copyright in any work whether published or unpublished, can be
made voluntarily by ``the owner of copyright or of any exclusive right
in the work'' at any time during the copyright term. The claim may be
registered in the Copyright Office by depositing the copies,
phonorecords, or other material specified by subsection (b) and (c),
together with an application and fee. Except where, under section
405(a), registration is made to preserve a copyright that would
otherwise be invalidated because of omission of the notice, registration
is not a condition of copyright protection.
Deposit for Purpose of Copyright Registration. In general, and
subject to various exceptions, the material to be deposited for
copyright registration consists of one complete copy or phonorecord of
an unpublished work, and two complete copies or phonorecords of the best
edition in the case of a published work. Section 408(b) provides special
deposit requirements in the case of a work first published abroad (``one
complete copy or phonorecord as so published'') and in the case of a
contribution to a collective work (``one complete copy or phonorecord of
the best edition of the collective work''). As a general rule the
deposit of more than a tear sheet or similar fraction of a collective
work is needed to identify the contribution properly and to show the
form in which it was published. Where appropriate as in the case of
collective works such as multivolume encyclopedias, multipart newspaper
editions, and works that are rare or out of print, the regulations
issued by the Register under section 408(c) can be expected to make
exceptions or special provisions.
With respect to works published in the United States, a single
deposit could be used to satisfy the deposit requirements of section 407
and the registration requirements of section 408, if the application and
fee for registration are submitted at the same time and are accompanied
by ``any additional identifying material'' required by regulations. To
serve this dual purpose the deposit and registration would have to be
made simultaneously; if a deposit under section 407 had already been
made, an additional deposit would be required under section 408. In
addition, since deposit for the Library of Congress and registration of
a claim to copyright serve essentially different functions, section
408(b) authorizes the Register of Copyrights to issue regulations under
which deposit of additional material, needed for identification of the
work in which copyright is claimed, could be required in certain cases.
Administrative Classification. It is important that the statutory
provisions setting forth the subject matter of copyright be kept
entirely separate from any classification of copyrightable works for
practical administrative purposes. Section 408(c)(1) thus leaves it to
the Register of Copyrights to specify ``the administrative classes into
which works are to be placed for purposes of deposit and registration,''
and makes clear that this administrative classification ``has no
significance with respect to the subject matter of copyright or the
exclusive rights provided by this title.''
Optional Deposit. Consistent with the principle of administrative
flexibility underlying all of the deposit and registration provisions,
subsection (c) of section 408 also gives the Register latitude in
adjusting the type of material deposited to the needs of the
registration system. The Register is authorized to issue regulations
specifying ``the nature of the copies of phonorecords to be deposited in
the various classes'' and, for particular classes, to require or permit
deposit of identifying material rather than copies or phonorecords,
deposit of one copy or phonorecord rather than two, or, in the case of a
group of related works, a single rather than a number of separate
registrations. Under this provision the Register could, where
appropriate, permit deposit of phonorecords rather than notated copies
of musical compositions, allow or require deposit of print-outs of
computer programs under certain circumstances, or permit deposit of one
volume of an encyclopedia for purposes of registration of a single
contribution.
Where the copies or phonorecords are bulky, unwieldly, easily
broken, or otherwise impractical to file and retain as records
identifying the work registered, the Register would be able to require
or permit the substitute deposit of material that would better serve the
purpose of identification. Cases of this sort might include, for
example, billboard posters, toys and dolls, ceramics and glassware,
costume jewelry, and a wide range of three-dimensional objects embodying
copyrighted material. The Register's authority would also extend to rare
or extremely valuable copies which would be burdensome or impossible to
deposit. Deposit of one copy or phonorecord rather than two would
probably be justifiable in the case of most motion pictures, and in any
case where the Library of Congress has no need for the deposit and its
only purpose is identification.
The provision empowering the Register to allow a number of related
works to be registered together as a group represents a needed and
important liberalization of the law now in effect. At present the
requirement for separate registrations where related works or parts of a
work are published separately has created administrative problems and
has resulted in unnecessary burdens and expenses on authors and other
copyright owners. In a number of cases the technical necessity for
separate applications and fees has caused copyright owners to forego
copyright altogether. Examples of cases where these undesirable and
unnecessary results could be avoided by allowing a single registration
include the various editions or issues of a daily newspaper, a work
published in serial installments, a group of related jewelry designs, a
group of photographs by one photographer, a series of greeting cards
related to each other in some way, or a group of poems by a single
author.
Single Registration. Section 408(c)(2) directs the Register of
Copyrights to establish regulations permitting under certain conditions
a single registration for a group of works by the same individual
author, all first published as contributions to periodicals, including
newspapers, within a twelve-month period, on the basis of a single
deposit, application, and registration fee. It is required that each of
the works as first published have a separate copyright notice, and that
the name of the owner of copyright in the work, (or an abbreviation by
which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative
designation of the owner) is the same in each notice. It is further
required that the deposit consist of one copy of the entire issue of the
periodical, or of the entire section in the case of a newspaper, in
which each contribution is first published. Finally, the application
shall identify each work separately, including the periodical containing
it and its date of first publication.
Section 408(c)(3) provides under certain conditions an alternative
to the separate renewal registrations of subsection (a). If the
specified conditions are met, a single renewal registration may be made
for a group of works by the same individual author, all first published
as contributions to periodicals, including newspapers, upon the filing
of a single application and fee. It is required that the renewal
claimant or claimants, and the basis of claim or claims under section
304(a), is the same for each of the works; that the works were all
copyrighted upon their first publication, either through separate
copyright notice and registration or by virtue of a general copyright
notice in the periodical issue as a whole; that the renewal application
and fee are received not more than twenty-eight or less than twenty-
seven years after December 31 of the calendar year in which all of the
works were first published; and that the renewal application identifies
each work separately, including the periodical containing it and its
date of first publication.
Corrections and Amplifications. Another unsatisfactory aspect of the
present law is the lack of any provision for correcting or amplifying
the information given in a completed registration. Subsection (d) of
section 408 would remedy this by authorizing the Register to establish
``formal procedures for the filing of an application for supplementary
registration,'' in order to correct an error or amplify the information
in a copyright registration. The ``error'' to be corrected under
subsection (d) is an error by the applicant that the Copyright Office
could not have been expected to note during its examination of the
claim; where the error in a registration is the result of the Copyright
Office's own mistake or oversight, the Office can make the correction on
its own initiative and without recourse to the ``supplementary
registration'' procedure.
Under subsection (d), a supplementary registration is subject to
payment of a separate fee and would be maintained as an independent
record, separate and apart from the record of the earlier registration
it is intended to supplement. However, it would be required to identify
clearly ``the registration to be corrected or amplified'' so that the
two registrations could be tied together by appropriate means in the
Copyright Office records. The original registration would not be
expunged or cancelled; as stated in the subsection: ``The information
contained in a supplementary registration augments but does not
supersede that contained in the earlier registration.''
Published Edition of Previously Registered Work. The present statute
requires that, where a work is registered in unpublished form, it must
be registered again when it is published, whether or not the published
edition contains any new copyrightable material. Under the bill there
would be no need to make a second registration for the published edition
unless it contains sufficient added material to be considered a
``derivative work'' or ``compilation'' under section 103.
On the other hand, there will be a number of cases where the
copyright owner, although not required to do so, would like to have
registration made for the published edition of the work, especially
since the owner will still be obliged to deposit copies or phonorecords
of it in the Copyright Office under section 407. From the point of view
of the public there are advantages in allowing the owner to do so, since
registration for the published edition will put on record the facts
about the work in the form in which it is actually distributed to the
public. Accordingly, section 408(e), which is intended to accomplish
this result, makes an exception to the general rule against allowing
more than one registration for the same work.
Amendments
1992--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-307 substituted ``At any time during
the subsistence of the first term of copyright in any published or
unpublished work in which the copyright was secured before January 1,
1978, and during the subsistence of any copyright secured on or after
that date,'' for ``At any time during the subsistence of copyright in
any published or unpublished work,''.
1988--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a)(1), substituted
``Such'' for ``Subject to the provisions of section 405(a), such''.
Subsec. (c)(2). Pub. L. 100-568, Sec. 9(a)(2), substituted ``the
following conditions:'' for ``all of the following conditions--'',
struck out subpar. (A) which read ``if each of the works as first
published bore a separate copyright notice, and the name of the owner of
copyright in the work, or an abbreviation by which the name can be
recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of the owner
was the same in each notice; and'', and redesignated subpars. (B) and
(C) as (A) and (B), respectively.
Effective Date of 1992 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 102-307 effective June 26, 1992, but applicable
only to copyrights secured between January 1, 1964, and December 31,
1977, and not affecting court proceedings pending on June 26, 1992, with
copyrights secured before January 1, 1964, governed by section 304(a) of
this title as in effect on the day before June 26, 1992, except each
reference to forty-seven years in such provisions deemed to be 67 years,
see section 102(g) of Pub. L. 102-307, as amended, set out as a note
under section 101 of this title.
Effective Date of 1988 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 100-568 effective Mar. 1, 1989, with any cause
of action arising under this title before such date being governed by
provisions in effect when cause of action arose, see section 13 of Pub.
L. 100-568, set out as a note under section 101 of this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 302, 405, 601, 704, 708 of
this title; title 2 section 170; title 28 section 4001.
