400-14
420
Nondramatic literary works prepared performance. {cont'd)
420.03
Embodiment of nondramatic literary works prepared for oral delivery. Nondramatic literary works intended for oral delivery may be embodied in copies or phonorecords. Human or mechanical agents, including computers, may be used to fix the words intangible form.
[Numbers 421 through 429 are reserved.]
430
Dramatic works. The term "dramatic works" includes plays prepared for stage presentation, as well as those prepared for cinema, radio, and television. Applications for registration of claims to copyright in dramatic works should be submitted on Form PA.
431
Dramatic works defined. A dramatic composition is one that portrays a story by means of dialog or acting and is intended to be performed. It gives directions for performance or actually represents all or a substantial portion of the action as actually occurring, rather than merely being narrated or described. Examples of narration or description alone might be: the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or a narration of the "Three Little Pigs." If the narrator is to devise or improvise his or her own action, the dramatic content is not fixed and thus the work is not a drama.
432
Characteristic features of dramatic works. Some of the features which are characteristic of dramas are the following:
432.01
Plot. A drama contains a thread of consecutively related events, either as a theme or in segments. A story delivered by narration alone, however, should be registered as a nondramatic work.
[1984]
