Finally, some common sense updates from the US Copyright Office, anything written by the Holy Spirit is now in the public domain
306 The Human Authorship Requirement
The U.S. Copyright Office will register an original work of authorship, provided that the work was created by a human being.
The copyright law only protects “the fruits of intellectual labor” that “are founded in the creative powers of the mind.” Trade-Mark Cases, 100 U.S. 82, 94 (1879). Because copyright law is limited to “original intellectual conceptions of the author,” the Office
will refuse to register a claim if it determines that a human being did not create the work. Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony, 111 U.S. 53, 58 (1884).
The Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants. Likewise, the Office cannot register a work purportedly created by divine or supernatural beings, although the Office may register a work where the application or the deposit copy(ies) state that the work was inspired by a divine spirit.
Examples:
• A photograph taken by a monkey.
• A mural painted by an elephant.
• A claim based on the appearance of actual animal skin.
• A claim based on driftwood that has been shaped and smoothed by
the ocean.
• A claim based on cut marks, defects, and other qualities found in
natural stone.
• An application for a song naming the Holy Spirit as the author of the
work.
Similarly, the Office will not register works produced by a machine or mere mechanical process that operates randomly or automatically without any creative input or intervention from a human author.
Examples:
• Reducing or enlarging the size of a preexisting work of authorship.
• Making changes to a preexisting work of authorship that are dictated by manufacturing or materials requirements.
• Converting a work from analog to digital format, such as transferring a motion picture from VHS to DVD.
• Declicking or reducing the noise in a preexisting sound recording or
converting a sound recording from monaural to stereo sound.
• Transposing a song from B major to C major.
• Medical imaging produced by x-rays, ultrasounds, magnetic
resonance imaging, or other diagnostic equipment.
• A claim based on a mechanical weaving process that randomly produces irregular shapes in the fabric without any discernible
pattern?
Among other improvements, the Third Edition will offer the significant benefits of electronic publication. More than three times the size of the previous edition, it will nonetheless be more navigable than before and allow for a regular schedule of updates. In final form, it will feature …
