Chapter 1100
ELIGIBILITY
Outline of Topics
1101 Applicability of this chapter.
1101.01 Sound recordings.
1102 Definitions.
1102.01 Author.
1102.02 Domicile.
1102.03 First publication.
1102.04 National.
1102.05 Producer of phonograms.
1102.06 Sovereign authority of a foreign nation.
1102.07 Stateless.
1102.08 United States.
1102.09 Universal Copyright Convention.
1103 Statutory provisions.
1103.01 Unpublished works.
1103.02 Published works.
1103.03 Copyright law extended to certain terri-
tories.
1104 Multilateral copyright treaties to which the
United States is a party.
1104.01 Mexico City Convention of 1902.
1104.02 Buenos Aires Convention of 1910.
1104.03 Universal Copyright Convention.
1104.04 Phonogram Convention.
1105 Presidential proclamations.
1105.01 Proclamations issued under the current Act.
1105.02 Continuance of earlier proclamations.
1105.03 Coverage of earlier proclamations.
1106 Existence of copyright relations unclear.
1107 Copyright Office policy.
-1 -
(1984]
Chapter 1100
ELIGIBILITY
Outline of Topics -2-
Authors: particular situations.
1108.01 More than one author.
1108.02 More than one nationality.
1108.03 Work made for hire.
1108.04 Nationality and domicile of corporations and
similar organizations.
1108.05 Compilations and derivative works.
1108.06 Stateless.
1108.07 united States
1108.08 Territorial areas of the United States.
1108.09 Anonymous and pseudonymous works.
1108.10 First publication after death of author.
1109 Time when eligibility is determined.
1109.01 Registered as unpublished: ineligible when
published.
1109.02 Change in nationality or domicile after publi-
cation.
1109.03 Works distributed only in the form of phono-
.records before 1978.
1110 Acceptable statements of nationality, domicile,
and nation of first publication.
1111 Some general examples illustrating basic principles.
[1984]
Chapter 1100
ELIGIBILITY
1101 Applicability of this chapter. This chapter
concerns the registrability of works under the
provisions of the copyright law relating to
national origin. This chapter is applicable
to unpublished works, whenever created, and to
works published on or after January 1, 1978.
Compendium I should be consulted for an explana-
tion of practices concerning eligibility for
works, other than sound recordings, published
before January 1, 1978.
1101.01 Sound recordings. In general, this chapter
applies to sound recordings as well as to
other works. However, sound recordings whose
eligibility for U.S. copyright protection
depends solely upon the provisions of the
Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) are not
registrable. Regarding the UCC, see sections
1102.09 and 1104.03 below.
1102 Definitions. The following are definitions of
terms used in this chapter.
1102.01 Author. The "author" is the person who
prepared the material covered by the copy-
right claim except that in the case of a
work made for hire, the employer or other
person for whom the work was prepared, is
considered to be the author. Thus, where a
work is made for hire, it is the nation-
ality or domicile of the employer or other
person for whom the work was prepared,
rather than the nationality or domicile of
the employee, which may serve as a basis for
determining eligibility for registration.
1102.02 Domicile. "Domicile" is the place where a
person has a fixed and permanent residence
with an intention to continue that residence
for an unlimited time and to which such
person, whenever absent, has the intention
of returning. Mere residence is not the
equivalent of "domicile," and therefore
cannot serve as a basis for determining
eligibility.
1100-1
[1984]
1100-2
1102.03 Definitions. (cont'd)
1102.03 First publication. The date of "first
publication" is the earliest date on which,
by authority of the copyright owner, (a)
copies or phonorecords of a work are dis-
tributed to the public by sale or other
transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease,
or lending, or (b) an offer is made to
distribute copies or phonorecords to a
group of persons for further distribution,
public performance, or public display. If
a work is first published on the same date
in more than one country, ordinarily the
application for registration may give the
name of any such country as the nation of
first publication of the work. However, if
one of the countries is the United States,
the application should give "United States"
as the nation of first publication. The
Copyright Office will generally not ques-
tion a statement in an application giving,
as the nation of first publication, a
country which is one of those where first
publication provides a basis for eligibi-
lity, even though the Office is informed
that the work was also first published on
the same date in one or more other coun-
tries where first publication would not
offer a basis for eligibility.
1102.04 National. In general, the term "national"
means (a) a citizen of a nation, or (b) a
person who, although not a citizen, never-
theless owes permanent allegiance to a
nation. Citizens of the United States are
those persons who are citizens in accor-
dance with the U.S. Constitution or Federal
statutes, including persons born in Guam,
the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico;
certain persons are by Federal statute
nationals but not citizens of the United
States, including persons born in the out-
lying possessions of the United States; in
addition, all U.S. citizens are also
nationals of the United States. See 8
U.S.C. 1101.
[1984]
1100-3
1102 Definitions. (cont'd)
1102.05 Producer of phonograms. The "producer of a
phonogram" is the person who, or the legal
entity which, first fixes the sounds of a
performance or other sounds. Article l(b),
Convention for the Protection of Producers
of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Dupli-
cation of Their Phonograms, 25 U.S.T. 309,
325, T.I.A.S. No.7808 (Done at Geneva Oct.
29, 1971: entered into force in the United
States Mar. 10, 1974).
1102.06 Sovereign authority of a foreign nation. A
"sovereign authority of a foreign nation"
is a governmental agency or subdivision of
a foreign nation, e.g., a ministry of the
government of Norway, or a province of Canada.
1102.07 Stateless. A stateless person is a person
who has no nationality, either as the result
of never having acquired nationality in any
nation, or as the result of having effec-
tively renounced or having been deprived of
his or her former nationality without
having, as yet, become a national of any
nation.
1102.08 United States. The "United States," when
used in a geographical sense, comprises the
several States, the District of Columbia
and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and
the organized territories under the juris-
diction of the United States Government.
17 U.S.C. 101.
1102.08(a) Organized territories. The "organized
territories under the jurisdiction of
the United States Government" are those
for which the Congress has provided
organic acts which serve the same
purpose as do the constitutions of the
States. The organized territories
include Guam and the U.S. virgin
Islands.
[1984]
1100-4
1102 Definitions. (cont'd)
02.08 United States. (cont'd)
02.08(b) Other territorial areas. Other terri-
torial areas under the jurisdiction of
the U.S. Government include: (a) the
unorganized territories such as
American Samoa, (b) trust territories
such as the Trust Territory of the
Pacific Islands, and (c) other posses-
sions such as numerous small islands.
Since the status of a number of the
territorial areas which at present are
not among the organized territories is
in the process of being changed (such
as the status of the Northern Mariana
Islands), consultation with other U.S.
Government agencies or further study by
the Copyright Office may be necessary
when registration of a work depends
upon the status of such an area.
1102.09 Universal Copyright Convention. The Uni-
versal copyright Convention (UCC) is a
multilateral treaty on copyright to which
the United States and a considerable number
of other nations have adhered. The origi-
nal version of the Convention, done at
Geneva, entered into force September 16,
1955. The revised version, done at Paris,
entered into force July 10, 1974. Since
the United States is a party to both
versions, adherence by a foreign nation
to either version may serve as the basis
of eligibility for protection under the
provisions of the U.S. copyright law
relating to national origin. See also
section 1104.03 below. Concerning sound
recordings, see section 1101.01 above.
1103 Statutory provisions. The following are the
statutory provisions which establish eligibi-
lity. If a work is eligible under any of these
provisions, the fact that it fails to meet any
or all of the others will not prevent regis-
tration.
[1984]
1100-5
1103 Statutory provisions. (cont'd)
1103.01 Unpublished works. The work of any author,
while unpublished, is eligible for regis-
tration as an unpublished work without
regard to such author's nationality or
domicile. See 17 U.S.C. 104(a).
1103.02 Published works. The work of any author
published on or after January I, 1978, is
eligible for registration as a published
work only if it meets at least one of the
following conditions.
103.02(a) U.S. national or domiciliary. On the
date of first publication, one or more
of the authors is a national or domici-
liary of the United States. 17 U.S.C.
104(b)(I).
103.02(b) Foreign national or domiciliary. On
the date of first publication, one or
more authors is a national, domicili-
ary, or sovereign authority of a
foreign nation which is a party to a
copyright treaty to which the United
States is also a party. 17 U.S.C.
104(b)(I). See section 1104 below.
103.02(c) Stateless person. On the date of first
publication, one or more of the authors
is a stateless person, wherever that
person may be domiciled. 17 U.S.C.
104(b)(1).
1103.02(d) First publication in the United States.
The work is first published in the
United States. 17 U.S.C. 101 and 104(b)
(2).
1103.02(e) First publication in a UCC country. The
work is first published in a foreign
nation that, on the date of first pub-
lication, is a party to either the
Geneva or Paris text of the Universal
Copyright Convention (UCC). 17 U.S.C.
104(2). See section 1104.03 below.
[1984]
1100-6
1103 Statutory provisions. (cont'd)
1103.02 Published works. (cont'd)
1103.02(f) United Nations or the Organization of
American States. The work is first
published by the United Nations or any
of its specialized agencies, or by the
Organization of American States. 17
U.S.C. 104(b)(3). NOTE: There is no
requirement, as a basis for eligibi-
lity, that one of these organizations
'be the author, copyright claimant, or
copyright owner, but only that the work
be first published by one such organi-
zation.
1103.02(g) Presidential proclamation. The work
comes within the scope of a presiden-
tial proclamation. 17 U.S.C. 104(b)
(4). See section 1105 below.
1103.03 Copyright law extended to certain terri-
tories. The U.S. copyright law has been
.extended by specific statutory enactments
to Guam, 48 U.S.C. 1421n; the U.S. Virgin
Islands, 48 U.S.C. 1405q; and the Northern
Mariana Islands, 48 U.S.C. 1681, together
with the Act of Mar. 24, 1976, Pub. L.
94-241, 90 Stat. 263, and Presidential
Proclamation No.4534, 42 Fed. Reg. 56593
(1977).
1104 Multilateral coypyright treaties to which the
United States is a party. The following are
multilateral copyright treaties to which the
United States is a party.
1104.01 Mexico City Convention of 1902. This
treaty was superseded by the Buenos Aires
Convention of 1910 with regard to all
members except El Salvador. The copyright
law extends eligibility to works by
nationals or domiciliaries of El Salvador
through this treaty. NOTE: In addition to
being a party to the Mexico City Conven-
tion, effective June 30, 1908, El Salvador
[1984]
1100-7
1104 Multilateral copyright treaties to which the
United States is a party. (cont'd)
1104.01 Mexico City Convention of 1902. (cont'd)
also became a party to both the Geneva and
the Paris texts of the Universal Copyright
Convention, effective March 29, 1979, and
to the Phonogram Convention, effective
February 9, 1979. See sections 1104.03 and
1104.04 of this chapter.
1104.02 Buenos Aires Convention of 1910. The copy-
right law extends eligibility to works by
nationals or domiciliaries of nations which
are parties to this treaty. Such works
must satisfy all of the legal and formal
requirements of title 17, U.S.C.
1104.03 Universal Copyright Convention. The copy-
right law extends eligibility to works by
nationals or domiciliaries of nations that
are parties to this Convention, and to
works first published in such nations.
Member nations may be parties to the Geneva
text only, or to both the Geneva and Paris
texts. See section 1102.09 above. Con-
cerning sound recording, see section
1101.01 above.
1104.04 Phonogram Convention. The Convention for
the Protection of Producers of Phonograms
Against Unauthorized Duplication of their
Phonograms provides, in Article 2 thereof,
that each "Contracting State shall protect
producers of phonograms who are nationals
of other Contracting States. ..." 25
U.S.T. 309, 325: T.I.A.S. No.7808. Where
the producer who is an author of a sound
recording is a national of a nation that is
a member of this Convention, the copyright
law extends eligibility to that work. See
also section 1102.05 above.
[1984]
1100-8
Presidential proclamations. Presidential -
proclamations are governed by the following
provisions:
1105.01 Proclamations issued under the current Act.
The President of the United States may by
proclamation extend U.S. copyright protec-
tion to works of which one or more of the
authors is, on the date of first publica-
tion, a national, domiciliary, or sover-
eign authority of a foreign nation as to
which such proclamation has been issued,
or to works which were first published
in such a nation. See 17 U.S.C. 104(b)(4):
see also section 104, Transitional and
Supplementary Provisions of the current
Act.
l105.02 Continuance of earlier proclamations. The
current law provides that all proclamations
issued by the President under section l(e)
or 9(b) of title 17 as it existed on Decem-
ber 31, 1977, or under previous copyright
statutes of the United States, shall con-
tinue in force until terminated, suspended,
or revised by the President. See section
104, Transitional and Supplementary Pro-
visions of the current Act.
1105.03 Coverage of earlier proclamation.
Presidential proclamations issued before
January I, 1978, extend eligibility only to
the works of authors who were a "citizen or
subject" of a proclaimed nation. Such
proclamations confer no eligibility on the
basis of domicile or publication in a pro-
claimed nation. See 17 U.S.C. l(e) and
9(b), as it existed on December 31, 1977:
see also section 13 of the Act of March 3,
1891, 26 Stat. 1106.
1106 Existence of copyright relations unclear. In
some instances the status of copyright rela-
tions between the United States and a partic-
ular nation is unclear. Registration will be
refused in any case where eligibility depends
upon the existence of copyright relations with
that nation. See also section 1109 below.
[1984]
1100-9
1107 Copyright Office policy. In general, the
nationality, domicile, or nation of first
publication given by the applicant will be
accepted at face value unless it is clearly
inconsistent with facts stated by the applicant
or with information of which the Copyright
Office has knowledge. The Copyright Office
generally does not attempt to settle questions
of nationality or domicile.
Examples:
1) An application stating that the author is a
u.s. national will be questioned where the
accompanying letter indicates that he or
she has applied for citizenship, but has
not yet been naturalized.
2) An application stating that a currently
prominent European statesman is domiciled
in the United States will be questioned.
1108 Authors: particular situations. For published
works, the nationality or domicile of the author
may determine eligibility for registration.
Special situations include the following:
1108.01 More than one author. The "author" whose
nationality or domicile is determinative in
a particular case may be the author who
prepared only a portion of the material
covered by the copyright claim, and this
may suffice to extend eligibility to all
the material covered by the claim regard-
less of the nationality or domicile of the
other authors.
1108.02 More than one nationality. If the author
of the work covered by the copyright claim
has more than one nationality and if any
such nationality confers eligibility,
registration can be made.
1108.03 Work made for hire. In the case of a work
made for hire, it is the nationality or
domicile of the employer or other person
for whom the work was prepared, rather
than the nationality or domicile of the
employee, which may serve as a basis for
determining eligibility for registration.
See section 1102.01 above.
[1984]
1100-10
1108 Authors: particular situations. (cont'd)
1108.04 Nationality and domicile of corporations
and similar organizations. In the case of
a work made for hire, where the employer or
other person for whom the work was prepared
is not a natural person but is an artifi-
cial person or legal entity, such as a
corporation or similar organization, the
nationality and domicile of such an organi-
zation, for copyright registration
purposes, is usually considered to be that
of the nation under the laws of which it
was created. Thus, the nationality and
domicile of a corporation should generally
be stated as the United States, if it was
incorporated under the law of one of the
several States, under Federal law, or under
the law of the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or those
organized territories under the jurisdic-
tion of the United States which have the
power to create corporations.
1108.04(a) Members. A corporation or similar
organization is ordinarily considered
by law to be separate and distinct from
the persons who are its members or
shareholders, so that the nationality
or domicile of such organization may be
different from that of such members or
shareholders.
1108.04(b) Doing business. A corporation may do
business in a particular nation without
being a national or domiciliary of that
nation.
ll08.05 Compilations and derivative works. The
nationality or domicile of the author of
the compilation or derivative work rather
than the nationality or domicile of the
author(s) of the preexisting material used
in the work determines eligibility for
registration.
[1984]
1100-11
1108 Authors: particular situations. (cont'd)
1108.06 Stateless. A work of a stateless author is
eligible regardless of the author's former
or prospective nationality or domicile, and
regardless of the place of first publica-
tion of the work. See section 1102.07
above.
1108.07 United States. A work of a U.S. national
is eligible regardless of his or her domi-
cile or the place of first publication.
Where an author of a work is domiciled in
the United States or the work is first
published in the United States, it is
eligible for registration regardless of
the author's nationality. See sections
1102.03, 1102.04, and 1102.08 above.
1108.08 Territorial areas of the United States.
Domicile or first publication in any of the
territorial areas under the jurisdiction of
the U.S. Government, other than the several
states, the District of Columbia and the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the orga-
nized territories, does not confer eligi-
bility for registration: such areas include
the unorganized territories, the trust
territories, and other possessions of the
United States. See section 1102.08 above.
However, works by domiciliaries of, or
first published in, these areas may be
eligible on the basis of the nationality
of the author: and since U.S. nationals
include persons born in the outlying
possessions of the United states, eligi-
bility in such cases may be conferred on
this basis. See section 1102.04 above.
1108.09 Anonymous and pseudonymous works. Where
eligibility depends on the nationality or
domicile of the author, that information
must still be given on the application for
registration even though the work is
anonymous or pseudonymous. However, the
identity of the author does not have to be
stated in such cases.
[1984]
1100-12
1108 Authors: particular situations. (cont'd)
1108.10 First publication after dearth of author.
Where a work is first published after the
author's death, the Copyright Office will
make registration if, at the time of death,
the author's nationality or domicile would
have conferred eligibility. In no case
where a work is first published after the
authors death can the nationality or domi-
cile of the copyright claimant serve as the
basis for eligibility.
1109 Time when eligibility is determined. Where
eligibility must be based on the nationality or
domicile of the author, it is the author's
nationality or domicile and the status of the
author's country on the date of first publica-
tion that are determinative. See section
1108.08, above, for an exception in the case
of works first published after the death of
the author.
1109.01 Registered as unpublished: ineligible when
.published. Even though a work may have
been registered as unpublished, it must be
eligible at the time of first publication
to be registrable as a published work.
Example:
The author is a national and domiciliary
of Iraq, a nation with which the United
States has no copyright relations. The
work is registered in unpublished form.
If that work is later published in a
non-UCC country, and the author's citi-
zenship and domicile remain unchanged,
registration of the claim in the pub-
lished version should be refused.
1109.02 Change in nationality or domicile after
publication. If a work was eligible for
registration at the time of first publica-
tion on the basis of the author's nation-
ality or domicile, changes in nationality
or domicile occurring after that time are
not determinative for this purpose.
[1984]
1100-13
1109 Time when eligibility is determined. (cont'd)
1109.03 Works distributed only in the form 0!
phonorecords before 1978. Where musical,
dramatic or literary works were publicly
distributed before January I, 1978, only in
the form of phonorecords, registration
cannot be made for these works as published
works. However, if distribution of the
phonorecords continued on January I, 1978,
registration for the underlying works can
be made under the current law as published
works. In such cases the date of first
publication is considered to be January I,
1978, and it is the nationality or domicile
of the author on that date which determines
eligibility. Eligibility may also be con-
ferred by the nation of publication on that
date.
1110 Acceptable statements of nationality, domicile,
and nation of first publication. Generally,
the application for registration should desig-
nate the name of the nation of which the author
is a national, domiciliary, and in the case of
a published work the name of the nation of
first publication of the work. An application
listing a territory or other political subdivi-
sion, rather than the name of the nation
itself, is generally not acceptable as a basis
for determining registrability. However, where
it is obvious, from the statement given, what
the name of the nation is, the application will
be accepted without correspondence.
Examples of acceptable statements:
England
Swiss
Great Britain
French
Wales
Examples of unacceptable statements:
British Protected Person
Commonwealth Citizen
[1984]
100-14
1111 Some general examples illustrating basic principles. The following general examples reflect some of the principles of eligibility.
1) A magazine article by an author who is a national and domiciliary of a nation with which the United States does not have copyright relations either bilaterally or through an international convention, first published in the United States or in a foreign nation which is on that date a party to the Universal Copyright Convention, is eligible for registration by virtue of the place of first publication. See sections 1102.09, 1103.02(d), and 1109 above.
2) A book by an author who, on the date of first publication, is a national of a nation with which the United States has copyright relations, but is domiciled in a nation that has no copyright relations with the United States is eligible for registration by virtue of the author's nationality, even if the book is first published in a nation that does not have copyright relations with the United States. See sections 1102.04, 1103.02, and 1104.
3) A musical composition by an author who is a national of a nation with which the United States has no copyright relations, but is domiciled in a foreign nation which, on the date of first publication, has copyright relations with the United States by virtue of the Universal Copyright Convention or the Buenos Aires Convention of 1910, is eligible for registration no matter where the work is first published. See sections 1103.02(b) and 1104.03.
4) A musical composition is jointly authored by a lyricist who is a national and domiciliary of a nation with which the United States has no copyright relations and a
composer who is domiciled in a nation
[1984]
1100-15
1111 Some general examples illustrating basic principles. (cont'd
4) (cont'd)
that, on the date of first publication, is a member of the Universal Copyright Convention or the Buenos Aires Convention of 1910. By virtue of the domicile of the composer, the work is eligible for a registration extending to all the material covered by the claim, regardless of place of first publication. See sections 1103.02(b), 1104.03, and 1108.01.
[END OF CHAPTER 1100]
[1984]