619.5 Claimants Distinguished from the Applicant and the Correspondent
As discussed above, the author of the work or a person or entity that owns all of the rights in the copyright that initially belonged to the author are the only parties entitled to be named as a copyright claimant. However, an application to register a copyright claim may be filed by other parties. 37 C.F.R. § 202.3 (A) (3), (C) (1).
The applicant is the party who certifies the application and submits it to the U.S. Copyright Office. An application to register a copyright may be certified and submitted by any of the following parties:
• The author of the work.
• An owner of all the rights under copyright that initially belonged to the author of the work.
• An owner of one or more – but less than all – of the exclusive rights in the work.
• A duly authorized agent of any of the foregoing parties.
No other parties are entitled to file an application for copyright registration. See 37
C.F.R. § 202.3 (C) (1).
When completing an application, the applicant will be asked to provide the name, address, and other contact information for the person or persons who should be contacted if the registration specialist has questions or concerns regarding the application. This person is known as the correspondent. In most cases, the correspondent and the applicant are the same person, because the correspondent typically certifies and submits the application. In all cases, the correspondent must be one of the following parties:
• An author of the work.
• An owner of all the rights under copyright that initially belonged to the author of the work.
• An owner of one or more – but less than all – of the exclusive rights in the work.
• A duly authorized agent of any of the foregoing parties.