Page:Compendium of US Copyright Office Practices (1973).pdf/478

5-123

No. 34

PROPER APPLICATIONS RECBIVED" DATE
ON APPLICATIONS FOR UNPUBLISHED WORKS

It is important to have accurate dates stamped in the boxes on pages 2 and 4 of the application for the registration of a claim in an unpublished work since they play a vital role in computing the term of copyright.

When an application lacks necessary information but is otherwise acceptable, we usually return it for amendment and-filing. The date we receive the application again with the added statement is stamped on it. Sometimes, we request a completely new application with the additional information instead of returning the original application tor amendment. In response to this request, we may receive a new appli­cation with the requested information but the application may be otherwise unacceptable. For example, the wrong form may have been submitted. Depending upon the circumstances and in accordance with established practices, we may transfer the new information from the second application to the original application with an annotation. The following practice should govern the proper "application received" date in these cases:

A.

It the original application lacked necessary information which we added to it on the basis of a statement received in a later application, we should add the date of receipt of that later application to the "application received" boxes of the original application. The original application, including the certificate portion, should be annotated as follows:

• Added from new application received on _________ and filed with correspondence.

B.

If the new application submitted at our request is unsigned but otherwise correct, we should return the new application for sig­nature.

C.

It the applicant responds to our request for additional information by telephone or in a covering letter, we should treat the new information received in this manner as it it were information given on a new application. We should add to the "application received" boxes