Can I Combine Multiple Works in a Single Copyright Application?

Although copyright applications are relatively inexpensive- $35 if filing online- it can be expensive and time consuming to register a large number of works. A series of photographs, paintings or sculptures, or web posts would be cumbersome to register one by one. If a whole series could be registered together, the savings in government fees and in attorney time would be substantial.

Unfortunately, it is rarely possible to register multiple works together in a single copyright application.

Registering Collections of Unpublished Works

Unpublished works (essentially, works where copies have not been sold) can be registered together if the same person or entity owns every work in the collection and at least one author contributed to the creation of every work. See the U.S. Copyright Office help pages. In the typical situation where a single author/artist has created each of the works and retains ownership of them, this requirement is satisfied.

Page 9 of the Copyright Basics circular put out by the U.S. Copyright Office details additional qualifications:

1. The combined elements must bear a single title identifying the collection as a whole; and
2. The elements of the collection are assembled in an orderly form

Exactly what this means is not entirely clear. If you give the collection a title (e.g., “Photographs 2007″) and assemble the elements in an “orderly form” your collection would seem to qualify. These requirements to not appear to be a serious obstacle. The more detailed Copyright Office guidelines with examples do not even mention these other requirements.

In any case, the staff at the Copyright Office is quite helpful and usually responds quickly to questions sent by email and can also be reached by phone. Please contact them if you have any questions about your unpublished collection.

As a data point, when I went to the Copyright Office to register a large number of (unpublished) secure exams, the staff recommended that I file one application for each set of exams that were released together. I believe they could have all been included in one application, although that could make licensing and copyright management more difficult. If anyone has any input on this issue, please leave it in the comments.

Registering Collections of Published Works

A group of published works can also be registered together under certain circumstances. To be registered in a single application, the published works must all be:

1. First published on the same day;
2. First published in the same unit of publications; and
3. Owned by the same person or entity.

See the U.S. Copyright Office help pages. For examples, see here.  The first and third requirements are clear-cut, the second less so. Generally, two works are published in the same unit of publication if they are sold together as a single unit.

Conclusion

It is a good idea to consult a copyright attorney if you are weighing whether you can or should apply to register multiple works together. In a future post, I will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of registering multiple works with a single application.