Page:Compendium of US Copyright Office Practices, II (1984).pdf/534

1600-4

1605

Document Cover Sheet Processing.

Cases submitted with a document cover sheet will be processed and verified in the same manner as a document submitted without a cover sheet. Neither category of document will receive priority processing.

1606

Practices for processing documents.

1606.01

Formal sufficiency of document. In order to be regarded as a "transfer," a document must generally meet the following formal requirements:

1)

It must be signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or by such owner's duly authorized agent.

2)

It must identify the transferor and transferee.

3)

It must contain words of conveyance.

4)

It must be "an instrument in writing."

5)

It must be complete by its own terms.

1606.02

Instrument in writing. To be recordable, the instrument must be in writing. The Copyright Office does not provide, suggest, or require any special form for the transfer of a copyright or other document pertaining to a copyright that is recorded under Section 205. Any type of legible document which meets the other formal requirements will be accepted for recordation, if it contains an individual's actual signature or an acceptable alternative. See 1606.03 and 1606.08 below.

Examples:

1)

Handwritten or typewritten original.

2)

Transfer in the form of a letter; [note that the letter should not be addressed to the Copyright Office].

3)

Carbon of original.

4)

Printed original.

1606.03

Actual signature. To be recordable, the document must bear the actual signature or signatures of the person or persons who executed it. Alternatively, the document may be recorded if it is a legible photocopy or other full-size facsimile reproduction of the signed document,

[1998]