621.9 (C) Authorship Unclear
The copyrightable authorship that the applicant intends to register should be clearly identified in the application, and the scope of the claim to copyright in that authorship should be clearly stated. As a general rule, the U.S. Copyright Office will accept any of the terms set forth in Section 621.8 (C), or any combination of those terms, unless the statement provided in the New Material Included field or space 6 (B) is contradicted by information provided elsewhere in the registration materials. For examples of terms that may be considered unclear, see Sections 618.8 (A) (1) through 618.8 (A) (10).
As discussed in Section 621.8 (C), the New Material Included field in the online application or space 6 (B) of the paper application should identify all of the copyrightable authorship that the applicant intends to register. As discussed in Sections 621.8 (A) and 621.8 (C), the statement provided in the Author Created field should be identical to the statement provided in the New Material Included field (if any). Likewise, the statement provided in space 2 should be identical to the statement provided in space 6 (B) (if any).
If there is a discrepancy between the statements provided in the Author Created/New Material Included fields or in spaces 2 and 6 (B), or if the deposit copy(ies) contain an appreciable amount of copyrightable authorship that is mentioned in one portion of the application but not the other, the registration specialist may register the claim if the statements are consistent with each other and if the claim is clear based on the registration materials as a whole. If there is a conflict between these statements or if the extent of the claim is unclear, the registration specialist will communicate with the applicant.