300-20
324
Deposit for registration: identifying material. (cont'd)
324.02
Notice on identifying material. (cont'd)
code so that its presence and content are not readily discernible, the notice should be underlined or highlighted and its contents decoded.
324.03
Source code as best deposit. The Copyright Office considers the source code to be the best representation of the copyrightable authorship in a computer program. Thus the identifying material deposited for a computer program should be in source code.
324.04
Rule of doubt. Where the applicant is unable or unwilling to deposit identifying material in source code, depositing only object code instead, registration for the computer program will be made under the rule of doubt if the applicant confirms in writing that the work as deposited contains copyrightable material. See also section 108.07 of Chapter 100: BASIC POLICIES.
NOTE: Because object code is basically unintelligible to copyright examiners, it is not possible to examine the deposit to determine the presence of copyrightable authorship. The doubt in this instance does not concern the copyrightability of computer programs in general.
324.05
Special relief. Special relief is a procedure which allows the Register of Copyrights to grant the requester the option of depositing less than or other than that which is required under the general deposit provisions. Special relief is an option available to computer program applicants when they are unable or unwilling to deposit the usual identifying material in source code format. See section 808 of Chapter 800: DEPOSIT FOR REGISTRATION: see also 37 C.F.R. 202.20(d).
[1984]
