|
 |
|
(From U.S. Copyright Office Circular 61, "Computer Programs", Circular 65, "Automated Databases, Circular 66, "Online Works.")
Websites & Online Works
Copyright Registration is available for Online Works "made available over a communications network such as the Internet." This information applies also to works accessed via network (World Wide Web sites and Homepages, FTP sites, Gopher sites) and files and documents transmitted and/or downloaded via network.
Copyright protects original authorship fixed in tangible form. For works transmitted online, the copyrightable authorship may consist of text, artwork, music, audiovisual material (including any sounds), sound recordings, etc. Copyright does not protect ideas, procedures, systems, or methods of operation.
What the registration of an online work covers
For websites and all online works other than computer programs and databases, the registration will extend to the copyrightable content of the work as received in the Copyright Office and identified as the subject of the claim. The application for registration should exclude any material that has been previously registered or published or that is in the public domain.
Note: For online computer programs and databases, the registration will extend to the entire copyrightable content of the work owned by the claimant, even though the entire content is not required in the identifying material deposited (with the Copyright Office).
Revisions and updates
Many works transmitted online are revised or updated frequently. For individual works, however, there is no blanket registration available to cover revisions published on multiple dates. Separate registration is required to reflect the new updates or revisions.
Automated Databases
An automated database is a body of facts, data, or other information assembled into an organized format suitable for use in a computer and comprising one or more files.
The copyright law does not specifically enumerate databases as copyrightable subject matter, but the legislative history indicates that Congress considered computer databases and compilations of data as “literary works” subject to copyright protection.
Databases may be considered copyrightable as a form of compilation, which is defined in the law as a work “formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship.”
Extent of copyright Protection
Copyright protection extends to the compilation of facts if the compilation represents original authorship. In some instances some or all the contents of a database, new or revised, may also be copyrightable, as in the case of a full-text bibliographic database.
Copyright protection is not available for the selection and ordering of data in a database where the collection and arrangement of the material is a mechanical task only and represents no original authorship; e.g., merely transferring data from hard copy to computer storage.
Basis of Claim
Where all of the material in a database has been previously published, previously registered, or is in the public domain, the claim must be limited to “compilation” assuming the requisites of original selection, coordination, or arrangement are present. Where all, or a substantial portion, of the material in the database represents copyrightable expression and it is being published or registered for the first time, the claim could also extend to “text”, “revised text”, “additional text”, or the like.
In the “Nature of Authorship” space, identify the copyrightable authorship in the database for which registration is sought, for example “compilation” or “compilation and text.” (Do not include any reference to design, physical form, features, hardware, or other uncopyrightable elements.)
Computer Programs
A “computer program” is a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result.
Copyright protection extends to all of the copyrightable expression embodied in the computer program. Copyright protection is not available for ideas, program logic, algorithms, systems, methods, concepts, or layouts.
Screen Displays
Copyright protection for computer screen displays has been an issue in the courts for some time. Courts have differed in their opinions regarding whether screen displays may be registered separately.
The Copyright Office has consistently believed that a single registration is sufficient to protect the copyright in a computer program and related screen displays, including videogames, without a separate registration for the screen displays or a specific reference to them on the application for the computer program.
An application may give a general general description in the “Nature of Authorship” space, such as “entire work” or “computer program.” This description will cover any copyrightable authorship contained in the computer program and screen displays, regardless of whether identifying material for the screen is deposited. A specific claim in the screen displays may be asserted on the application. In such a case, identifying materials for the screens must be deposited.
How To Register Computer Programs Containing Copyrightable Screen Displays
A single registration should be made in the class appropriate to the predominant authorship. Because the computer program is a literary work, literary authorship will predominate in most works, including many in which there are screen graphics. If pictorial or graphic authorship predominates, registration may be made as an audiovisual work.
The registration will extend to any related copyrightable screens, regardless of whether identifying material for the screens is deposited (with the Copyright Office). If identifying material for screen displays is deposited and if there is a specific claim in screens, the identifying material will be examined for copyrightability.
Where the application refers specifically to screen displays, identifying material for the screens must be deposited. Where the screens are essentially not copyrightable (e.g., de minimis menu screens, blank forms, or the like), the application should not refer to screens.
If screen display authorship has already been registered without a claim in the computer program, a separate registration may be made for the program. In such a case, the normal requirements for registration of a computer program apply.
If a computer program has already been registered without a specific claim asserted in the related screen displays, a separate registration for the screens is not required, but will be permitted. In such a case, the application should describe the Nature of Authorship appropriately, for example, “text of screen displays” or “audiovisual material.” Identifying material for the screens containing copyrightable authorship must be deposited (with the Copyright Office).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
