Author's Name

The author of a work is responsible for its creation. Normally, the author is the person who actually creates the authorship being claimed. The only exception occurs when authorship is created as a work made for hire. In this case, the employer is considered the author, not the employee who created the authorship. (See below for information on works made for hire). The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author.

Work Made for Hire

A work made for hire is either

• a work created by an employee as part of his/her regular duties. A person is an employee if the hiring party has the right to control the manner and means by which the work is created. Courts have considered certain factors in the employment relationship, such as whether taxes are withheld or benefits given, to determine whether the contributor is an “employee” under this sense of the definition. See Circular 9.

or

• a specially commissioned work for certain categories of works and only if there is a written agreement between the employer and employee stating that the work is made for hire. Specially commissioned works must fall into one of the following categories:
  
  
  1. contribution to a collective work
  2. part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work
  3. translation
  4. supplementary work
  5. compilation
  6. instructional text
  7. test or answer material for a test
  8. atlas

If a work is made for hire, the employer is the author. See “statutory definition” below.

Statutory definition A work made for hire is defined as: A work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment, or A work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire.A supplementary work is defined as a work prepared for publication as a secondary adjunct to a work by another author for the purpose of introducing, concluding, illustrating, explaining, revising, commenting upon, or assisting in the use of the other work, such as forewords, afterwords, pictorial illustrations, maps, charts, tables, editorial notes, musical arrangements, answer material for tests, bibliographies, appendices and indexes.

Doing Business As

You may give the name under which an author does business as long as the two names represent one and the same entity. The relationship may also be expressed as “trading as,” “sole owner of,” “also known as,” and “acceptable alternative designation.” Where an individual is doing business as an unincorporated organization, the organization is not a separate legal entity. Certain types of organizations such as corporations and partnerships, however, are separate legal entities and should not be listed here.

Examples: John Smith (author) doing business as Smith Publishing Company Sue Jones (author) trading as Jones Productions

Dates of Author's Birth and Death

The author's Year of Birth is optional but is useful as a form of identification. Note that, if given, this information will appear in the public record. Leave this space blank if the author is an organization.

If the author is deceased, the copyright law requires that the Year of Death be included in the application (unless the work is anonymous or pseudonymous and the author is not named on the application).

Author's Citizenship or Domicile

Give the country of which the author is a citizen and or the country in which the author is domiciled. A domicile is the place where an individual has his/her permanent home. For the citizenship of a corporate author, you may give the country under the laws of which it was incorporated. For the domicile of an organizational author, you may give the country of the principal place of business.

Anonymous Work

An author's contribution to a work is “anonymous” if that author is not identified on the copies or phonorecords of the work. If the contribution is anonymous, you may:

• reveal the author's identity even though the work is anonymous, or
• leave the author fields blank, or
• give “Anonymous” in the last name field.

Note that if a work is “made for hire,” you must name the employer as author. In any case, you should check the anonymous box.

Pseudonymous Work

An author's contribution to a work is “pseudonymous” if that author is identified on the copies or phonorecords only under a fictitious name. If the contribution is pseudonymous, you may:

• reveal the author's identity even though the work is pseudonymous, or
• leave the author fields blank.

In either case, you should check the pseudonymous box and give the pseudonym in the space provided. (Note: If your work is a work make for hire, it is not necessary to check the pseudonymous box).

Author Created

Check the appropriate boxes to indicate this author's contribution to the work. The choices that appear correspond to the type of work you identified at the beginning. If you need to be more specific, use the space under “other.”

Literary Authorship

• Text may include works that contain a series of words or phrases, usually forming complete sentences that explain or narrate, such as poems, stories, scripts and instructions.
• Editing consists of adding, revising, and/or deleting preexisting text.
• Photograph(s) includes photographic illustrations, prints, and slides.
• Artwork may include works such as two- or three-dimensional artwork, illustrative matter such as drawings, technical drawings, or other non-photographic pictorial representations.
• Translation is a rendering of a work from one language to another, for example, a work translated from German into English.
• Compilation is 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. To be copyrightable, a compilation must contain at least a certain amount of original selection and/or ordering. For example, the selection of only 3 poems from different authors would not constitute a copyrightable compilation.
• Computer Program refers to computer code, that is, a set of statements or instructions to be used in a computer in order to bring about a certain result.
• Other may be used to briefly state (in general terms) authorship that is not covered by the boxes provided and for which you seek this registration.

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Visual Arts Authorship

• Text includes textual material that accompanies pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, such as comic strips, greeting cards, games rules, commercial prints or labels, and maps.
• Photograph(s) includes photographic illustrations, prints, slides and holograms.
• Jewelry design includes 3-dimensional designs applied to rings, pendants, earrings, necklaces, and the like.
• Architectural work consists of designs of buildings, including the overall form as well as the arrangement and composition of spaces and elements of the design. Note: Any registration for the underlying architectural plans must be applied for on a separate application, checking the box “Map and/or Technical drawing”.
• 2-D artwork includes watercolor and oil paintings; pen and ink drawings; logo illustrations; greeting cards; collages; stencils; patterns; computer graphics; graphics appearing in screen displays; artwork appearing on posters, calendars, games, commercial prints and labels, and packaging as well as 2-dimensional artwork applied to useful articles, and designs reproduced on textiles, lace and other fabrics; on wallpaper, carpeting, floor tile, wrapping paper, and clothing.
• Sculpture/3-D artwork includes fine art sculptures, toys, dolls, scale models, and sculptural designs applied to useful articles.
• Map and/or Technical Drawing: Maps are cartographic representations of an area, such as state and county maps, atlases, marine charts, relief maps, and globes. Technical drawings are diagrams illustrating scientific or technical information in linear form, such as architectural blueprints or mechanical drawings.
• Other may be used to briefly state (in general terms) authorship that is not covered by the boxes provided and for which you seek this registration.

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Performing Arts Authorship

• Music refers to the melody, rhythm and harmony of a musical composition.
• Lyrics refers to the words of a song or other musical composition.
• Text (scripts/screenplays/others)

  Scripts/screenplays are plays prepared for stage presentation, as well as those prepared for cinema, radio and television.

  Synopsis is a brief summary (usually one page) of a play or screenplay.

  Treatment is a written description of a film, often an intermediate stage between the script idea and the shooting script.

• Editing generally consists of markings for the performance of music, such as additional or altered fingering, accents, dynamics and the like. Editorial text can also be considered editing.
• Musical Arrangement is a work that results from the addition of new (or revised) harmony to a preexisting work (either a melody or an existing song).
• Other may be used to briefly state (in general terms) authorship that is not covered by the boxes provided and for which you seek this registration.

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Sound Recordings Authorship

• Sound recording is a series of musical or other sounds (for example, spoken words) fixed in some medium. A sound recording consists of the contributions of the performer(s) and/or the producer(s)/sound engineer(s). The performance and production form an integrated whole, i.e. a sound recording, and are subject to a single registration. A sound recording is separate and distinct from the underlying work being recorded. For example, a song (words and music) is a separate work from the recording of that song.

Note that the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audio visual work are specifically excluded from the statutory definition of “sound recording.”

Statutory definition “Sound recordings” are works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, but not including the sounds accompanying a motion picture or other audiovisual work, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as disks, tapes, or other phonorecords, in which they are embodied.

• Performance refers to sound recording authorship fixed by a human performer. The performance of a musical work consists of the particular vocal and/or instrumental recorded rendition of that work. The performance of a literary or theatrical work consists of the recorded reading or narration.
• Production usually refers to the studio engineering, editing, mixing, mastering, processing, etc., to produce the finished recording.  Do NOT check this box to refer to the creation of a musical composition (see the definition of “music” below).
• Lyrics refers to the words of a song or other musical composition.
• Music refers to the melody, rhythm and harmony of a musical composition. It is important to note the difference between music (that is, the musical lines in a musical composition) and a sound recording (that is, the actual sounds of the musical work fixed in recorded form, for example, on a CD or digitally in an mp3 file).
• Other may be used to briefly describe authorship that is not covered by the boxes provided and for which you seek this registration.

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Motion Pictures Authorship

• Editing: The Editor studies footage, selects the best shots, and assembles them by splicing and resplicing into sequences to achieve continuity and desired dramatic, comedic and thematic effects. The goal is to create dramatic continuity and the right pace for the desired mood.
• Direction: The Director is the principal author of a motion picture. S/he translates the script to film and also is involved in every stage of production. S/he may supervise hundreds of people, from screenwriters to costume and set designers. The director is in charge of all technical and artistic aspects of the film or television show. S/he conducts auditions and rehearsals and approves the location, scenery, costumes, choreography, and music. In short, s/he directs the entire cast and crew during shooting.
• Script/Screenplay is the written text used in the production/performance of the motion picture or television show.
• Cinematography: The Cinematographer composes the film shots to reflect the mood the director wishes to create. S/he may operate the camera or may work with other camera operators to capture the script’s scenes on film.
• Entire motion picture may include direction, production, editing, music, script and cinematography. Most commercial motion pictures are registered as works made for hire and the employer is considered the author of all of these elements.
• Production: The Producer plays a critical role in the creation of a motion picture. When a motion picture is “made for hire,” a company is usually the producer and handles both the creative and business details of making the motion picture overall. An individual person who functions as the producer usually plans, organizes and controls the various stages in the production. The producer often handles various business aspects of the production as well. To be considered an author of a motion picture, an individual producer must make a direct, creative contribution to the work. An individual producer who manages only the business aspects of a film project (sometimes referred to as the “executive producer”) is not considered an author.
• ther may be used to briefly state (in general terms) authorship that is not covered by the boxes provided and for which you seek this registration.

Additional terms

• Audiovisual works or audiovisual elements are works that consist of a series of related images which are intrinsically intended to be shown by the use of machines or devices such as projectors, viewers, or electronic equipment, together with accompanying sounds, if any, regardless of the nature of the material objects, such as films or tapes, in which the works are embodied.
• Sounds accompanying an audiovisual work is a term that generally refers to the soundtrack of a motion picture. Other examples are the sounds for a video or computer game and the sounds for any online audiovisual work.

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