1106.5 (B) Titles of the Works
The applicant must provide a title for each work in the group. Guidance for completing this portion of the application is provided in the help text that accompanies the “Titles” screen. If the applicant fails to provide titles, the registration specialist may communicate with the applicant (which will delay the registration decision) or may refuse registration.
A title for the group as a whole will be added automatically by the electronic registration system. The U.S. Copyright Office will use this title to identify the registration in its online public record. The group title will consist of the title of the first work listed in the application followed by the phrase “and [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9] Other Unpublished Works” (depending on how many works are submitted).
As mentioned in Section 1106.5 (G), claims in the selection, coordination, or arrangement of the group as a whole are not permitted on the application. If the applicant provides a “collection” title, the specialist will remove that term without communicating with the applicant.
The applicant should upload a complete copy or phonorecord of each work in the group. As discussed in Section 1106.4, the file name assigned to each work should match the corresponding title given on the “Titles” screen. If the titles and file names do not match each other, the specialist may ask the applicant to resubmit the files (which will delay the registration decision), the specialist may remove the mismatched titles and files from the registration record, or the specialist may simply refuse registration.
Example:
• Brad Ashley intends to register three songs titled “Memorial Day,” “Independence Day,” and “Labor Day.” He plans to upload these songs in three separate mp3 files. The Office will accept:
Titles Listed in the Application | File Names for the Digital Uploads |
Memorial Day | memorial_day.mp3 |
Titles Listed in the Application | File Names for the Digital Uploads |
Independence Day | independence_day.mp3 |
Labor Day | labor_day.mp3 |
The Office will not accept:
Titles Listed in the Application | File Names for the Digital Uploads |
Memorial Day | memorial_day.mp3 |
Independence Day | fourth_of_july.mp3 |
Labor Day | labor_day.mp3 |
In the second situation, the Office will remove the title “Independence Day” from the application and will remove “fourth_of_july.mp3” from the deposit. The Office will issue a registration that covers the two remaining songs: “Memorial Day” and “Labor Day.”