500-9
503
Registration requirements for drawings, paintings, other pictorial works, and sculpture. (cont'd)
503.03
Works not capable of supporting a copyright claim. (cont'd)
503.03(b)
Works containing insufficient expression. No registration is possible where the work consists solely of elements which are incapable of supporting a copyright claim. Uncopyrightable elements include common geometric figures or symbols, such as a hexagon, an arrow, or a five-pointed star, as pointed out in section S03.02(a) above.
503.03(c)
Ideas and concepts. Mere ideas and concepts cannot support a copyright claim. In order to be registrable, a work must contain original copyrightable expression. Thus, for example, neither the idea of folding a five-pointed star in a manner that enables it to stand upright, nor the star so folded is registrable.
504
Registration requirements for two-dimensional useful articles, three-dimensional works of artistic craftsmanship, and models. The registrability of two-dimensional useful articles is determined by the presence of at least a certain minimum amount of pictorial or graphic authorship. For three-dimensional works of artistic craftsmanship falling outside the definition of useful articles, such as jewelry, toys, and wall plaques, the authorship may be either sculptural or pictorial in nature, such as carving, cutting, molding, casting, shaping the work, arranging the elements into an original combination, or decorating the work with pictorial matter. Three-dimensional works of artistic craftsmanship are registrable either in assembled form, or in unassembled component pieces, as for example, an unassembled model airplane.
[1984]
