Copyright Registration, Redux
Posted: November 9, 2016 Filed under: Cases, Intellectual Property | Tags: copyright, copyright infringement, copyright protection, copyright registration, designs, lawsuits, Louise Paris, patterns, Standard Fabrics, U.S. Copyright Office Comments Off on Copyright Registration, Redux
Registering copyrightable designs as “unpublished” collections can be an efficient and cost effective way to register multiple two dimensional print patterns in a single registration. But to derive the benefits of registration, you need to be able to identify the designs included. Standard Fabrics International, Inc. (“Standard Fabrics”) learned that lesson the hard way, when it sued Louise Paris, Ltd. and its retail customer for copyright infringement of one of the fabric designs it claimed was part of its “Spring Summer, Collection 1”.
To succeed in a suit for copyright infringement, you must prove that the design in issue was registered with the Copyright Office. To register, you must submit a copy of the design with an application for registration.
Standard Fabrics’ registration identified its work only as “Spring Summer, Collection 1”. Nothing in the title referred specifically to the particular design number that was the subject of the suit. Therefore, Standard Fabrics was required to prove that the design was actually included in the collection registered. Because Standard Fabrics could not prove the design infringed was part of the collection registered, it was denied judgment on its infringement claim.
The problem Standard Fabrics faced can be avoided. In an application to register a collection of designs, be sure to set forth the design number for each design covered by the application. Each individual design in the collection can be uploaded separately on the Copyright Office’s electronic website and appropriate records of the upload can be printed and maintained.
The Copyright Office generally maintains deposit copies of unpublished works. It will provide copies of these for use by the lawyers for parties to litigation, but it requires a written application in its proscribed form and time to search for, reproduce and certify its records. The fee charged for this service can be hundreds of dollars, as the Copyright Office will charge for its time as well as imposing copying and certification fees.
But beware, the Copyright Office does not undertake to retain deposit copies of published works. Full term retention must be arranged for a fee.
Credit: Helene M. Freeman
Here’s a previous post that may be of interest…
Compendium of Copyright Office Practices – 3rd Edition
Posted: January 21, 2015 Filed under: Federal & State Laws, General / Musings, Intellectual Property | Tags: Compendium of Copyright Office Practices, copyright protection, U.S. Copyright Office Comments Off on Compendium of Copyright Office Practices – 3rd Edition
The U.S. Copyright Office delivered a Christmas present to the creative industries: The third edition of the Compendium of Copyright Office Practices. Unlike its predecessors, the third edition is not merely a set of instructions to the Copyright Office staff for administering the registration and recordation functions of the Register of Copyrights. The new version is intended to provide guidance to applicants for copyright, as well, setting forth what is and is not copyrightable and identifying who is entitled to claim copyright ownership.
Fabric and jewelry designers will find its lists of non-copyrightable subject matter and its examples of the distinction between copyrightable and non-copyrightable designs instructive. While the Compendium reflects significant judicial decisions, collected in a table of authorities, it also ventures into areas that have been considered unsettled.
This is particularly apparent in the section devoted to the copyright in websites. Insofar as the Register of Copyright is concerned, the format, layout and “look and feel” of a website are not copyrightable; but the content—text, photographs, audio and audio-visual works—are copyrightable. The website creator may have a copyright in the collection or compilation of these materials, consisting of their selection and arrangement, even if it has not created the contents. If the website’s terms of service require a user to convey “exclusive rights” in user generated content, uploading by the user of his or her content to the site will entitle the site to claim ownership of the copyright in the content. But the Copyright Office does not make registration easy. It requires the users who authored the content to be identified by name in the application for registration. If there are too many to name all, the application should list several authors and indicate the number of additional authors and the staff of the Copyright Office may ask for a more complete list to verify that the identification of authors of user-generated content has been maintained by the site owner. And any registration for the content on a website will pertain only to the particular version submitted with the application, so new matter added after registration will not be covered by the prior registration. Although it may be made available for display throughout the world, a website is considered an “unpublished work”, unless downloading or sharing of content is authorized.
The Compendium does not have the force of law and the Copyright Office has frankly stated that it has addressed unsettled areas in the hope that its reasoning will be considered persuasive should the issues be presented in future cases. But the Compendium does control how the Copyright Office will address applications for registration and a review of its provisions will assist applicants for copyright in avoiding common problems that can impede registration. It is readily available on the Copyright Office website, www.copyright.gov, and each chapter can be downloaded or accessed separately as a pdf.
Credit: Helene M. Freeman
