613.10 (F) Name of an Author Omitted: Works Created by Large Numbers of Authors
If the work was created by a large number of authors, the applicant is encouraged to provide the name of each author in the application where it is feasible. Likewise, if the work contains or consists of separate and independent works created by a large number of authors and if the claimant owns the copyright in each of those contributions, the applicant is encouraged to identify the author of each contribution.
The Office will accept an application that provides representative names and identifies the number of additional authors included in the claim (e.g., “John Jones, Will Smith, Fred Johnson, and thirty-five other contributors”). However, the registration specialist will not add missing names to the application, even if the authors’ contributions are clearly specified in the deposit copy(ies) or elsewhere in the registration materials.
See Sohm v. Scholastic Inc., 959 F.3d 39, 52-53 (2d Cir. 2020) (a registration for a collective work may cover the constituent elements of that work even if the authors of those elements are not specified in the registration); Alaska Stock, LLC v. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., 747 F.3d 673, 685 (9th Cir. 2014) (same); Bean v. Pearson Education, Inc., 585 Fed. Appx. 461, 462 (9th Cir. 2014); Bean v. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., 585 Fed. Appx. 322, 322 (9th Cir. 2014) (same); Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. v. American Home Realty Network, LLC, 722 F.3d 591, 599-600 (4th Cir. 2013) (same).