313.4(J) Familiar Symbols and Designs
Familiar symbols and designs are not copyrightable and cannot be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, either in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form. 37 C.F.R. § 202.1 (A). Likewise, the Office cannot register a work consisting of a simple combination of a few familiar symbols or designs with minor linear or spatial variations, either in two-dimensional or three-dimensional form. Examples of familiar symbols and designs include, without limitation:
• Letters.
• Punctuation.
• Symbols typically found on a keyboard, such as asterisks, ampersands, and the like.
• Abbreviations.
• Musical notes and symbols.
• Numbers.
• Mathematical symbols.
• Currency symbols.
• Arrows and other directional or navigational symbols.
• Common representational symbols, such as a spade, club, heart, diamond, star, yin yang, fleur de lys, or the like.
• Common patterns, such as standard chevron, polka dot, checkerboard, or houndstooth designs.
• Well-known and commonly used symbols that contain a de minimis amount of expression or that are in the public domain, such as the peace symbol, gender symbols (♀ ♂), the symbols for “play, pause, stop, forward, back,” simple emoticons such as the typical smiley face (‚ò∫), or the like.
• Standard industry designs, such as the caduceus, the barber pole, food labeling symbols, hazard warning symbols, or the like.
• Familiar religious symbols such as crosses, stars, crescents, and the like.
• Common architecture moldings, such as the volute used to decorate Ionic and Corinthian columns.
While familiar symbols and designs cannot be registered by themselves, a work of authorship that incorporates one or more of these elements into a larger design may be registered if the work as a whole contains a sufficient amount of creative expression.
For additional information concerning familiar symbols and designs, see Chapter 900, Section 906.2.