supplemental registration to correct or
Supplemental registration cannot be used to
amplify the nature of authorship statement notify the Copyright Office of postregistration in the original registration.
changes in ownership of a copyright, whether
by license, inheritance, or other form of
EXAMPLE: Karen wrote and published a
transfer. A special recordation procedure is
book on beekeeping in 2013. Karen never
registered the book. In 2018, Karen revised
used for this. (See discussion in Chapter 8,
and added several new chapters to her
“Transferring Copyright Ownership .” )
book. Karen registered this new edition with
the Copyright Office. She stated “revision
Errors or Changes in Content
and chapters 9–12 added” in the nature
of Registered Work
of authorship section of her registration
application. She did not complete Space 6 of
A supplemental registration cannot be
filed to reflect corrections in the content
CHAPTER 4 | CORRECTING OR CHANGING COPYRIGHT NOTICE OR REGISTRATION | 105
of a registered work or other changes in
Who Can File
that work. Where such changes are so
substantial as to make the new work a new
After the original basic registration has been
version, it must be registered separately and completed, a supplemental registration may a new deposit made. If the content changes be filed by:
are minor, there is no need to file a new
• any author or other copyright claimant
registration, since the original registration
in the work
will provide adequate protection. See the
• the owner of any exclusive right in
detailed discussion in Chapter 3, “Copyright
the work (see Chapter 3, Copyright
Registration,” about when a new registration
Registration), or
must be made to protect new material.
• the authorized agent of any of the above.
Errors in Copyright Notice
Completing the Application Form
There is no need to file a supplemental
Use the Copyright Office’s official Form CA
registration where you discover and correct to file a supplemental registration. The form errors in the copyright notice as discussed
contains seven parts, lettered A through G.
in Part I of this chapter.
Part A: Basic instructions
Part A asks for several items of information
Supplemental Registration
regarding your original basic registration.
Procedure
This information must be the same as
Filing a supplemental registration is a
that which already appears on your basic
straightforward procedure.
registration, even if the purpose of filing
Form CA is to change one of these items.
Refer to your certificate of registration for
When to File
this information.
You may file a supplemental registration any
Title of work. Give the title as it appears
time during the existence of the copyright
in the basic registration, including any
for a work that was published or registered
previous or alternative titles if they appear.
after January 1, 1978. However, there is a
Registration number. This is a six- or
time limit for works published or registered seven-digit number preceded by a two-letter before that date. See a copyright attorney
prefix—for example, TX 1234567. It should
before filing a supplemental registration for be stamped on the upper right-hand corner
a pre-1978 published work.
of your certificate of registration (the copy
of your application mailed back to you by
the Copyright Office).
106 | THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
Registration date. Give the year when the
Location and nature of information to be
basic registration was completed.
amplified. Where indicated, give the line
Name of author(s) and copyright claimant(s). number and heading or description of the Give the names of all the authors and
space in the basic registration form where
copyright claimants exactly as they appear
the information to be amplified appears.
in the basic registration.
Amplified information. Provide a statement
of the added, updated, or explanatory
Part B: Correction
information as clearly and succinctly as
Part B should be completed only if informa- possible—for example, “change nature of
tion in the basic registration was incorrect
authorship statement from editorial revisions
at the time the basic registration was
to entire text.”
made. Leave Part B blank and complete
Explanation of amplification. If you wish,
Part C instead if you want to add, update,
add an explanation of the amplification.
or clarify information rather than rectify
an error. Part B asks for four items of
Part D: Continuation
information.
Part D is a blank space that should be used
Location and nature of incorrect information.
if you do not have enough space in Part B
Give the line number and heading or
or C.
description of the space in the basic
registration where the error occurred—for
Part E: Deposit account and
example, “Line 2a … Name of Author.”
mailing instructions
Incorrect information as it appears in the
If you maintain a deposit account with
basic registration. Transcribe the erroneous
the Copyright Office, identify it in Part E.
statement in the basic registration exactly as Otherwise, you will need to send a non-
it appears there.
refundable $130 filing fee with your form.
Corrected information. Give the information The space headed “Correspondence” should as it should have appeared.
contain the name and address of the person
Explanation of correction. If you wish, add to be consulted by the Copyright Office if an explanation of the error or correction.
there are any problems.
Part C: Amplification
Part F: Certification
Part C should be completed if you are filing The person making the supplemental
Form CA to amplify the information in
registration must sign the application
your basic registration.
in Part F and check the appropriate box
CHAPTER 4 | CORRECTING OR CHANGING COPYRIGHT NOTICE OR REGISTRATION | 107
indicating his or her capacity—that is,
Effect of Supplemental
author, other copyright claimant, owner of
Registration
exclusive rights, or authorized agent.
If your application was completed correctly,
Part G: Address for return of certificate
the Copyright Office will assign you a new
registration number and issue a certificate
The address to which the Copyright Office
of supplementary registration under that
should mail your supplemental registration
number. Th
e certificate is simply a copy of
certificate must be listed in Part G. Make
your Form CA with the new registration
sure the address is legible, since the certificate number, date, and certification stamped on will be returned in a window envelope.
it. Be sure to keep it in your records.
The information in a supplementary
Filing Form CA
registration augments, but does not
Send the CA form to the Copyright
supersede, that contained in the original
Office along with the registration fee and
basic registration. The basic registration
a photocopy of the front and back of the
is not expunged or cancel ed. However, if
certificate of registration being amended.
the person who filed the supplementary
Make your check or money order payable
registration was the copyright claimant for
to the Register of Copyrights. No deposit
the original registration (or the claimant’s
is necessary for a supplemental registration. heir or transferee), the Copyright Office wil Send the form and payment to:
place a note referring to the supplementary
Library of Congress
registration on its records of the basic
Copyright Office—RACD
registration. This way, anyone needing
101 Independence Avenue SE
information regarding the registration wil
Washington, DC 20559-6200
know there is a supplemental registration on
file if an inquiry is made regarding the work.
l
C H A P T E R
What Copyright Protects
5
What Copyright Protects: Tangible, Original Expression ................................................110
Requirement #1: Fixation .............................................................................................................110
Requirement #2: Originality .......................................................................................................112
Requirement #3: Minimal Creativity .....................................................................................112
Examples of Works Containing Protected Expression .................................................113
What Copyright Does Not Protect: The Boundaries of the Public Domain ........114
Ideas and Copyright ........................................................................................................................115
Facts and Copyright........................................................................................................................115
The Merger Doctrine—When Ideas, Facts, and Their Expression Merge .........116
Words, Names, Titles, Slogans, and Other Short Phrases ..........................................118
Quotations...........................................................................................................................................120
Blank Forms .........................................................................................................................................121
Government Works ........................................................................................................................123
Works in Which Copyright Protection Has Expired or Was Never Obtained .......123
Distinguishing Between Protected Expression and Material
in the Public Domain: Putting It All Together ....................................................................124
What’s Protected in a Work of Fancy ...................................................................................124
What’s Protected in a Factual Work ......................................................................................127
Copyright in the Online World ........................................................................................................129
What Online Materials Qualify for Copyright ..................................................................130
Rights Enjoyed by Copyright Owners Online ...................................................................130
Fair Use Limitation on Copyright Owners’ Exclusive Rights.....................................134
Linking, Framing, and Inlining ...................................................................................................135
How Copyright Protects Different Types of Online Works ...........................................137
Text Files ...............................................................................................................................................137
Images and Sounds .........................................................................................................................138
Websites ................................................................................................................................................139
Electronic Databases ......................................................................................................................139
Electronic Mail ...................................................................................................................................139
Blogs ....................................................................................................................................................... 140
Public Domain Materials ..............................................................................................................142
110 | THE COPYRIGHT HANDBOOK
We said in Chapter 1, “Copyright written work consists of selecting, from al
Basics,” that the copyright laws
the words in the English (or some other)
give authors and other copyright language, a particular sequence of words and
owners the exclusive right to reproduce,
other symbols that communicate what the
distribute, prepare derivative works based
author wants to convey to his or her readers.
upon, display, and perform their work. This
Subject to some important limitations
chapter explains that these rights extend
we’ll discuss below, copyright protects an
only to a work’s protected expression. It is
author’s particular choice of words from
vital to clearly understand what parts of a
unauthorized use by others. But copyright
work constitute protected expression—and
protection does not end with the words an
therefore belong exclusively to the author or author uses. It also extends to an author’s another copyright owner—and what parts are selection and arrangement of material—
not protected at all. Those aspects of a work that is, his or her choices as to what the that are not considered protected expression work should contain and the arrangement
are in the public domain, free for all to use.
of those items.
Only works containing protected
An author’s particular choice of words
expres sion may be registered with the
and selection and arrangement of material is
Copyright Office in the manner described
called “expression.” This is all that copyright
in Chapter 3, “Copyright Registration.”
protects.
When copyright owners sell or otherwise
However, not all expression is protected
transfer their copyright ownership rights
by copyright. An author’s expression is
as described in Chapter 8, “Transferring
protected only
if, and to the extent, it
Copyright Owner ship,” what they are
satisfies the following three fundamental
selling is the right to use their protected
requirements.
expression. And, as described in Chapter 11,
“Copyright Infringement,” copyright
Requirement #1: Fixation
owners have valid claims for copyright
infringement against persons who use
The most basic requirement that a person’s
their work without permission only if it is
expression must meet to qualify for copy-
protected expression that has been used.
right protection is that it must be fixed in
a “tangible medium of expression.” The
Copyright Act is not picky about how you
What Copyright Protects:
fix your expression; any medium from
Tangible, Original Expression
which your expression can be read back or
Described at its most fundamental level,
heard, either directly or with the aid of a
the creation of a book, an article, or other
machine, will suffice. In other words, your
expression will be protected if you handwrite
CHAPTER 5 | WHAT COPYRIGHT PROTECTS | 111
it on a piece of paper, type it on a typewriter, protection to unfixed expressions, but the save it on a computer or an online storage
extent of such protection is far from clear.
mechanism such as “the cloud,” dictate it into Several state courts have been reluctant to a tape recorder, act it out in front of a video
extend such protection very far. For example,
camera, or use any other means to preserve it. a New York state court refused to give state Copyright protection begins the instant
law protection to a conversation the author
you fix your expression. There is no waiting Ernest Hemingway had with his biographer,
period, and it is not necessary to register
A.E. Hotchner, which Hotchner reproduced
with the Copyright Office (but, as discussed years later in the book Papa Hemingway after in Chapter 3, “Copyright Registration,”
Hemingway’s death. The court held that for
very important benefits are obtained by
an oral statement to be protected by state
doing so). Copyright protects both drafts
law, the speaker would have to “mark off
and completed works, and both published
the utterance in question from the ordinary
The Copyright Handbook Page 20