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Cataloging in Publication (CIP):

The purpose of the Cataloging in Publication (CIP) program is to prepare prepublication cataloging records for those books most likely to be widely acquired by the nation’s libraries.

Collective Work:

A work, such as a periodical issue, anthology, or Encyclopedia, in which a number of contributions, constituting separate independent works in themselves are assembled into a collective.

Compilations and Abridgments:

Compilations and abridgments may be copyrightable if they contain new work of authorship. When the collecting of the preexisting material that makes up the compilation is a purely mechanical task with no element of editorial selection, or when only a few minor deletions constitute an abridgment, copyright protection for the compilation or abridgment as a new version is not available.

Copies:

Material objects, other than phonorecords, in which a work is fixed by any method now known or later developed, and from which the work can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly with the aid of a machine or device. The term “copies” includes the material object, other than a phonorecords, in which the work is first fixed.

Copy:

The physical form in which copyrightable work is reproduced.

Copyright:

In general – § 102 of Title 17 of the United States Code.

(a) Copyright protection subsists, in accordance with this title, in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. Works of authorship include the following categories:

(1) literary works;

(2) musical works, including any accompanying words;

(3) dramatic works, including any accompanying music;

(4) pantomimes and choreographic works;

(5) pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works;

(6) motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

(7) sound recordings; and

(8) architectural works.

(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

Copyright Claimant:

The copyright claimant is defined in Copyright Office regulations as either the author of the work or a person or organization that has obtained ownership of all the rights under the copyright initially belonging to the author. This category includes a person or organization that has obtained by contract the right to claim legal title to the copyright in an application for copyright registration.

Copyright Owner:

With respect to any one of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright, refers to the owner of that particular right.

Copyright Protection:

Copyright law protects creative expression, not fact, idea system or method of process or operation. Expression may be found in product design, written expression, traditional artistic works, and other original works such as literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright law prevents copying of expression. Facts and ideas are not protectable under copyright law. Copyright laws protect against copying. The copying does not need to be exact for infringement to be found. A substantial similarity is enough. Independent development is a defense.

Created:

A work is “created” when is fixed in a copy or phonorecords for the first time; where a work is prepared over a period of time, the portion of it that has been fixed at any particular time constitutes the work as of that time, and where the work has been prepared in different versions, each version constitutes a separate work.