727.3 (C) Date of Publication / Nation of Publication / Author’s Citizenship or Domicile
If the version that the applicant intends to register has been published as of the date that the application is filed with the U.S. Copyright Office, the applicant should provide the month, day, and year that the version being registered was published for the first time. As a general rule, the applicant should provide a date of first publication only for the specific version that is being submitted for registration. The applicant should not provide a date of publication for the first version of the database or any other version of the database that is not included with the application.
In addition, the applicant should identify the nation where the database was first published and the author’s country of citizenship or domicile. The Office will use this information to determine whether the database is eligible for copyright protection in the United States. For a definition and discussion of the nation of first publication, see Chapter 600, Section 612.5. For a definition and discussion of the author’s citizenship and domicile, see Chapter 600, Section 617.