Copyrights - 17 USC Section 409

01/19/04

Sec. 409. Application for copyright registration

The application for copyright registration shall be made on a
form prescribed by the Register of Copyrights and shall include -
(1) the name and address of the copyright claimant;
(2) in the case of a work other than an anonymous or
pseudonymous work, the name and nationality or domicile of the
author or authors, and, if one or more of the authors is dead,
the dates of their deaths;
(3) if the work is anonymous or pseudonymous, the nationality
or domicile of the author or authors;
(4) in the case of a work made for hire, a statement to this
effect;
(5) if the copyright claimant is not the author, a brief
statement of how the claimant obtained ownership of the
copyright;
(6) the title of the work, together with any previous or
alternative titles under which the work can be identified;
(7) the year in which creation of the work was completed;
(8) if the work has been published, the date and nation of its
first publication;
(9) in the case of a compilation or derivative work, an
identification of any preexisting work or works that it is based
on or incorporates, and a brief, general statement of the
additional material covered by the copyright claim being
registered;
(10) in the case of a published work containing material of
which copies are required by section 601 to be manufactured in
the United States, the names of the persons or organizations who
performed the processes specified by subsection (c) of section
601 with respect to that material, and the places where those
processes were performed; and
(11) any other information regarded by the Register of
Copyrights as bearing upon the preparation or identification of
the work or the existence, ownership, or duration of the
copyright.
If an application is submitted for the renewed and extended term
provided for in section 304(a)(3)(A) and an original term
registration has not been made, the Register may request
information with respect to the existence, ownership, or duration
of the copyright for the original term.

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES
HOUSE REPORT NO. 94-1476
The various clauses of section 409, which specify the information
to be included in an application for copyright registration, are
intended to give the Register of Copyrights authority to elicit all
of the information needed to examine the application and to make a
meaningful record of registration. The list of enumerated items was
not exhaustive; under the last clause of the section the
application may also include "any other information regarded by the
Register of Copyrights as bearing upon the preparation or
identification of the work or the existence, ownership, or duration
of the copyright."
Among the enumerated items there are several that are not now
included in the Copyright Office's application forms, but will
become significant under the life-plus-50 term and other provisions
of the bill. Clause (5), reflecting the increased importance of the
interrelationship between registration of copyright claims and
recordation of transfers of ownership, requires a statement of how
a claimant who is not the author acquired ownership of the
copyright. Clause (9) requires that, "in the case of a compilation
or derivative work" the application include "an identification of
any preexisting work or works that it is based on or incorporates,
and a brief, general statement of the additional material covered
by the copyright claim being registered." It is intended that,
under this requirement, the application covering a collection such
as a song-book or hymnal would clearly reveal any works in the
collection that are in the public domain, and the copyright status
of all other previously-published compositions. This information
will be readily available in the Copyright Office.
The catch-all clause at the end of the section will enable the
Register to obtain more specialized information, such as that
bearing on whether the work contains material that is a "work of
the United States Government." In the case of works subject to the
manufacturing requirement, the application must also include
information about the manufacture of the copies.
AMENDMENTS
1992 - Pub. L. 102-307 inserted at end "If an application is
submitted for the renewed and extended term provided for in section
304(a)(3)(A) and an original term registration has not been made,
the Register may request information with respect to the existence,
ownership, or duration of the copyright for the original term."
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.

Last modified: April 19, 2006