500-18
510
Scientific works: architectural and technical drawings and models. (cont'd)
510.02
Uncopyrightable works. Claims to copyright in the following works cannot be registered in the Copyright Office:
510.02(a)
Devices. Devices and similar articles, designed for computing and measuring, cannot be registered. Common examples of such works include slide rules, wheel dials, and nomograms that contain insufficient original literary or pictorial material. The printed material of which a device usually consists (lines, numbers, symbols, calibrations, and their arrangement) cannot be copyrighted, because this material is necessarily dictated by the uncopyrightable idea, principle, formula, or standard of measurement involved.
510.02(b)
Blank forms. Blank forms and similar works which are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information, cannot be registered. Common examples include: forms calibrated for use in conjunction with a machine or device, report forms, graph paper, account
books, scorecards, order forms, vouchers, and the like. See 37 C.F.R. 202.l(c).510.03
Ideas, processes, or systems. Copyright protection does not extend to ideas, processes, or systems. Scientific or technical works are registrable only if they contain the requisite original copyrightable expression. The following are not protectible by copyright and do not offer a basis for copyright registration: 1) ideas or procedures for doing, making, or building things; 2) scientific or technical discoveries or methods; 3) business operations or procedures; 4) mathematical principles; or 5) any other concept, process, method of operation, or plan of action. See 17 U.S.C. 102(b).
[1984]
