619.13(M) Statements Concerning the Claim to Copyright in the Name of Claimant Field / Space
To register a work of authorship, the applicant should identify the work that will be submitted for registration and the applicant should assert a claim to copyright in that material. As discussed in Sections 618 and 621, this information should be provided in the Author Created field, and if applicable, in the New Material Included field in the online application, or in space 2, and if applicable, in space 6 (B) of the paper application. The Office strongly discourages applicants from providing this type of information in the Name of Claimant field/space or in the Transfer field/space. Statements such as “John Smith: wrote words; Jane Doe: wrote music” or “John Smith – owner of words; Jane Doe – owner of words” may raise a question as to whether the claimant is an owner or co- owner of the copyright in the entire work or whether the claimant merely owns the copyright in a specific element of a collective work or derivative work.