1600-3
1603
Copyright Office policy. (cont'd)
1603.03
Other documents pertaining to a copyright. Any other document, including a self-serving declaration, will be recorded in the Copyright Office, if it pertains to a copyright. A document shall be considered to "pertain to a copyright" if it has a direct or indirect relationship to the existence, scope, duration, or identification of a copyright, or to the ownership, division, allocation, licensing, transfer, or exercise of rights under a copyright. That relationship may be past, present, future, or potential. See 37 C.F.R. 201.4.
1603.04
Recordation not required. In general, the Copyright Office does not require the recordation of documents. However, in certain cases, recordation of an affidavit or other document may be required as a condition of renewal registration or of annotation of completed Copyright Office records.
Example:
Where a renewal claim is submitted by an author whose name appears nowhere in the Copyright Office records in connection with the original registration and the omission of his or her name cannot be satisfactorily explained, registration of a renewal claim in that author's name will be made only if a document supporting the claim of authorship is recorded.
1603.05
When recordation suggested. Even though the Copyright Office does not generally require recordation of documents, it may point out the recordation provisions of the law and suggest the desirability of recording an instrument.
Example:
An application for registration is submitted where a claim in the same work has already been registered in the name of the prior owner of copyright. When the second registration is sought to reflect the change of ownership, the Copyright Office will refuse to make a second registration, but will point out the desirability of reflecting the change in ownership by recording the instrument of transfer.
[1984]
