2205.2 (D) Variants, Abbreviations, Alternative Designations, or Pseudonyms for the Copyright Owner
A notice may contain an abbreviation by which the copyright owner can be recognized or a generally known alternative designation. In such cases, the applicant should provide the legal name of the claimant and specify the relationship between the legal name and the name that appears in the notice.
A recognizable abbreviation for the copyright owner’s full name typically contains an abbreviation for each significant word in that name.
Example:
• “Merc. Rec.” for Mercury Records Corporation.
A generally known alternative designation for the copyright owner’s full name may contain part of that name, the copyright owner’s well-known initials, or a completely different name.
Examples:
• “Atlantic” for Atlantic Recording Corporation.
• “NBC” for National Broadcasting Company.
• “Melodium” for Genius Recording Co.
If the notice appears to identify the copyright owner to people who are likely to obtain copies or phonorecords of the work, the notice will be considered acceptable.
Likewise, if the name appearing in the notice is a pseudonym for an individual who is named in the application as a copyright claimant, the notice will be considered acceptable if the claimant is generally known by that pseudonym.
If the name, abbreviation, or alternative designation in the notice is so vague, truncated, or ambiguous that it could not identify any person or entity as a copyright owner, the U.S. Copyright Office will consider the work to be published without any name in the notice.