LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

COPYRIGHT OFFICE

RULES AND REGULATIONS

FOR THE

REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS
TO COPYRIGHT

COPYRIGHT OFFICE
Bulletin No. 15

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

1913

F13

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PREFATORY NOTE.

The act to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright, approved March 4, 1909, provides "That, subject to the approval of the Librarian of Congress, the Register of Copyrights shall be authorized to make rules and regulations for the registration of claims to copyright as provided by this act" (sec. 53).

Under this authority of law, the following rules and regulations for the registration of claims to copyright have been prepared and put into force in the Copyright Office.

RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE REGISTRATION

OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT.

der act.

1. Copyright under the act of Congress entitled: "An Copyright unact to amend and consolidate the acts respecting copyright," approved March 4, 1909,1 is ordinarily secured by printing and publishing a copyrightable work with a notice of claim in the form prescribed by the statute. Registration can be made after such publication, but the statute expressly provides, in certain cases, for registration of manuscript works.

WHO MAY SECURE COPYRIGHT.

Persons enti

2. The persons entitled by the act to copyright protec- tied to copyright. tion for their works are:

(1) The author of the work, if he is:

(a) A citizen of the United States, or

(b) An alien author domiciled in the United States
at the time of the first publication of his work, or
(c) A citizen or subject of any country which grants
either by treaty, convention, agreement, or law, to
citizens of the United States the benefit of copy-
right on substantially the same basis as to its own
citizens. The existence of reciprocal copyright
conditions is determined by presidential procla-
mation.2

(2) The proprietor of a work. The word "proprietor" is here used to indicate a person who derives his title to the work from the author. If the author of the work should

1 Amendatory acts were approved August 24, 1912 (providing for the registration of motion pictures), and March 2, 1913 (amending sec. 55, with regard to the certificate of registration).

2 Presidential copyright proclamations have been issued securing copyright privileges in the United States to the citizens or subjects of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain and her possessions, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, Mexico, Netherlands (Holland) and possessions, Nicaragua, Norway, Portugal, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Tunis.

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