610.4 (A) Contents Title: Titles of Separate and Independent Works Included in a Larger Work
If the applicant intends to register any of the separate and independent works that appear in a collective work or a unit of publication the applicant should enter the titles of each contribution in the field marked Contents Title. These titles will appear in the online public record and certificate of registration under the heading Contents Title.
Listing the content titles (i.e., the titles of separate and independent works that are owned by the copyright claimant) is beneficial for various reasons: (I) it provides a clear record of what the larger work contains; (ii) it clearly describes what the registration covers; and (iii) it makes these titles accessible as searchable terms in the online public record.
The total number of characters that may be provided in the Title of Work Being Registered field and the number of characters that may be provided in each Contents Title field is limited. Applicants are strongly encouraged to provide one title in the relevant field, then click the Save button, and then repeat this process in order to prevent loss of data due to space limitations.
The registration specialist generally will not communicate with the applicant if the titles given in the Title of Work Being Registered field and the Contents Title field are the same, unless it is unclear whether the applicant intends to register the larger work or one of the separate and independent works that appears within the larger work.
Examples:
• The applicant intends to register an album published under the title, Britney Shields: The Debut Album, as well as the musical works “Young At Last,” “Serenade,” “Dance All Night,” and “Love At First Sight,” which were released on this album. Britney created each of these songs and she produced the album as a whole. To register the album as a whole, the applicant should provide Britney Shields: The Debut Album in the Title of Work Being Registered field. To register the songs that appear on this album, the applicant should provide the title of each song in the application. Because the author of the album and the author of the songs are the same, the applicant is strongly encouraged to provide the titles “Young At Last,” “Serenade,” “Dance All Night,” and “Love At First Sight” in the Contents Title field.
• Railroad Publishers is the author of a work titled, Trackplans and Benchwork, which contains a dozen articles by Jack Armstrong. Jack assigned the copyright in these articles to the publisher, and the publisher intends to register Trackplans and Benchwork and all of the articles that it contains. To register the work as a whole, the applicant should provide Trackplans and Benchwork in the Title of Work Being Registered field. In addition, the applicant is strongly encouraged to provide the title of each article in the Contents Title field.
• The applicant intends to register a textbook titled Practical Physics. The book contains twelve chapters and all of the chapters are written and owned by the same person. The applicant should provide Practical Physics as the Title of work being registered. There is no need to provide the title for each chapter.
NOTE: The only paper application that specifically requests contents titles is Form SR. Space 1 of this application should be used to list the titles of any separate and independent sound recordings contained in the larger work that the applicant intends to register. In the alternative, the applicant may use one or more continuation sheets submitted on Form CON to list the titles of any separate and independent works included in the larger work. As is true for the online application, the applicant should only provide the titles of the individual sound recordings or other works that are owned by the copyright claimant.