U.S. Copyright Office Clarifies Definition of “Compilation” Under Copyright Act

Relying on the plain language and legislative history of the Act, the Copyright Office clarified in the Statement that to be registrable as a copyrighted work, a compilation must fall within one or more of the categories of authorship enumerated in Section 102(a).  The Copyright Office will now refuse to register a compilation that does not fall within at least one of the categories listed in Section 102(a).  The list of categories of copyrightable materials in Section 102(a) is nonexhaustive, of course, as evidenced by the use of the word “include” in the statute.  But the Copyright Office interpreted the use of the word “include” as intended to give Congress the flexibility to create new categories of copyrightable materials in the future.

Thanks to JD Supra for this very informative piece.

Tags: clarification, compilation, Copyright, copyright office, definition, meaning