Title 37—Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights--Volume 1
PART 212—PROTECTION OF VESSEL DESIGNS
§ 212.1   Scope.
The provisions of this part apply to the protection and registration of original designs of vessels under chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code. Design protection and registration under this part are separate from copyright protection and registration. Copyright registration is governed by the provisions of part 202 of this subchapter.
§ 212.2   Fees.
Services related to registration of original designs of vessels are subject to fees prescribed in §§ 201.3(c) and (d).
§ 212.3   Registration of claims for protection of eligible designs.
(a) Limitations. Protection is not available for, and an application for registration will not be accepted for:
(1) An otherwise eligible design made public prior to October 28, 1998;
(2) An otherwise eligible design made public on a date more than two years prior to the filing of an application for registration under this section;
(3) A design ineligible for any of the reasons set forth in 17 U.S.C. 1302.
(b) Required elements of application. An application is considered filed with the Copyright Office on the date on which the following three items have been received by the Copyright Office:
(1) Completed Form D-VH;
(2) Deposit material identifying the design or designs for which registration is sought; and
(3) The appropriate fee.
(c) Application by owner of design. An application for registration under this section may be made only by the owner or owners of the design, or by the duly authorized agent or representative of the owner or owners of the design.
(d) Application form. Registration must be made on Form D-VH. Forms are available from the Copyright Office and may be reprinted from the Copyright Office's website ( http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/formdvh.pdf ).
(e) Deposit material —(1) In General. Identification of the design to be registered may be made in the form of drawings or photographs. No more than two drawings or photographs of the design may appear on a single sheet. Applicants may submit up to three 8 1/2 ″ × 11″ sheets containing drawings or photographs as part of the basic application fee. An additional fee shall be assessed for each page beyond the first three pages. No combinations of drawings and photographs may be submitted on a single sheet. The drawings or photographs that accompany the application must reveal those aspects of the design for which protection is claimed. The registration extends only to those aspects of the design which are adequately shown in the drawings or photographs.
(2) Views. The drawings or photographs submitted should contain a sufficient number of views to make an adequate disclosure of the appearance of the design, i.e. , front, rear, right and left sides, top and bottom. While not required, it is suggested that perspective views be submitted to show clearly the appearance and shape of the three dimensional designs.
(3) Drawings. (i) Drawings must be in black ink on white 8 1/2 ″ × 11″ unruled paper. A drawing of a design should include appropriate surface shading which shows clearly the character and contour of all surfaces of any 3-dimensional aspects of the design. Surface shading is also necessary to distinguish between any open and solid areas of the design. Solid black surface shading is not permitted except when used to represent the black color as well as color contrast.
(ii) The use of broken lines in drawings depicting the design is understood to be for illustrative purposes only and forms no part of the claimed design. Structure that is not part of the design, but that is considered necessary to show the environment in which the design is used, may be represented in the drawing by broken lines. This includes any portion of the vessel in which the design is embodied or applied that is not considered part of the design. When the claimed design is only surface ornamentation to the vessel, the vessel in which it is embodied must be shown in broken lines.
(iii) When broken lines are used, they should not intrude upon or cross the depiction of the design and should not be of heavier weight than the lines used in depicting the design. Where a broken line showing of environmental structure must necessarily cross or intrude upon the representation of the design and obscure a clear understanding of the design, such an illustration should be included as a separate figure, in addition to other figures which fully disclose the subject matter of the design.
(4) Photographs. High quality black and white or color photographs will be accepted provided that they are mounted on plain white 8 1/2 ″ × 11″ unlined paper and do not exceed two photographs per sheet. Photographs must be developed on double weight photographic paper and must be of sufficient quality so that all the details of the design are plainly visible and are capable of reproduction on the registration certificate, if issued.
(f) Multiple claims —(1) In general. Claims for more than one design may be filed in one of two ways. If multiple designs are contained on the same make and model of a vessel (and therefore, the information in Space 1 of Form D-VH—the make and model of the vessel that embodies the design—is the same for each design), one application form may be used to register all the designs, provided that the information in spaces 3 through 9 is the same for each design. If multiple designs are contained on more than one make and model of a vessel, or the information in spaces 3 through 9 is not the same for each of the multiple designs, then separate applications must be used for each design.
(2) One application. Where one application for multiple designs is appropriate, a separate Form D-VH/CON must be used for each design beyond the first appearing on Form D-VH. Each Form D-VH/CON must be accompanied by deposit material identifying the design that is the subject of the Form D-VH/CON, and the deposit material must be attached to the Form D-VH/CON. The Form D-VH and all the Form D-VH/CONs for the application must be submitted together.
(3) Multiple applications. Where multiple applications for more than one design are required, a Form D-VH must be completed for each design. Deposit material identifying the design must accompany each application. Multiple applications may be filed separately.
(4) Fees. The basic application fee prescribed in § 201.3(c) of this chapter applies to each design submitted, regardless of whether one application or multiple applications are used.
(g) Written declaration. In lieu of the oath required by 17 U.S.C. 1312(a), the application shall contain a written declaration, as permitted by 17 U.S.C. 1312(b), signed by the applicant, or the applicant's duly authorized agent or representative. If the design has been made public with the design notice prescribed in 17 U.S.C. 1306, the written declaration shall also describe the exact form and position of the design notice. The written declaration shall read as follows:
The undersigned, as the applicant or the applicant's duly appointed agent or representative, being hereby warned that willful false statements are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, under 18 U.S.C. 1001, and that such willful false statements may jeopardize the validity of this application or any resulting registration, hereby declares to the best of his/her knowledge and belief:
(1) That the design has been fixed in a useful article;
(2) That the design is original and was created by the designer(s), or employer if applicable, named in the application;
(3) That those aspects of the design for which registration is sought are not protected by a design patent;
(4) That the design has not previously been registered on behalf of the applicant or the applicant's predecessor in title; and
(5) That the applicant is the person entitled to protection and to registration under chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code.
(h) Priority claims. An applicant seeking the benefit of 17 U.S.C. 1311 because the applicant has, within the previous six months, filed an application for protection of the same design in a foreign country, must provide:
(1) Identification of the filing date of the foreign application;
(2) Identification of the foreign country in which the application was filed;
(3) The serial number or any other identifying number of the foreign application;
(4) A certified copy of the foreign application;
(5) A translation of the foreign application and a statement, signed by the translator, that the translation is accurate, if the foreign application is in a language other than English; and
(6) If requested by the Copyright Office, proof that the foreign country in which the prior application was filed extends to designs of owners who are citizens of the United States, or to applications filed under chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code, similar protection to that provided under chapter 13 of title 17, United States Code.
(i) Effective date of registration. The effective date of registration is the date of publication of the registration by the Copyright Office.
(j) Publication of registration. Publication of registrations of vessel designs shall be made on the Copyright Office website ( http://www.loc.gov/copyright/vessels ).
§ 212.4   Affixation and placement of design notice.
(a) General. (1) This section specifies the methods of affixation and placement of the design notice required by 17 U.S.C. 1306. Sections 1306 and 1307 govern the circumstances under which a design notice must be used and the effect of omission of a design notice. A notice deemed acceptable under this part shall be considered to satisfy the requirements of section 1306 that it be so located and applied as to give reasonable notice of design protection while the useful article embodying the design is passing through its normal channels of commerce. As provided in that section, the examples specified in this part shall not be considered exhaustive of the methods of affixation and locations giving reasonable notice of the claim of protection in the design.
(2) The acceptability of a design notice under these regulations shall depend upon its being legible under normal conditions of use, and affixed in such a manner and position that, when affixed, it may be viewed upon reasonable examination. There is no requirement that a design notice be permanently embossed or engraved into a vessel hull or deck, but it should be affixed in such a manner that, under normal conditions of use, it is not likely to become unattached or illegible.
(b) Elements of a design notice. If the design has been registered, the registration number may be included in the design notice in place of the year of the date on which protection for the design commenced and the name of the owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally accepted alternative designation of the owner. The elements of a design notice shall consist of:
(1) The words “Protected Design”, the abbreviation “Prot'd Des.”, or the letter “D” within a circle, or the symbol *D*;
(2) The year of the date on which protection for the design commenced; and
(3) The name of the owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally accepted alternative designation of the owner.
(c) Distinctive identification. Any distinctive identification of an owner may be used for purposes of paragraph (b)(3) of this section if it has been recorded by the Register of Copyrights pursuant to § 212.5 before the design marked with such identification is registered.
(d) Acceptable locations of notice. The following are acceptable means of affixing and placement of a design notice:
(1) In close proximity to the identification number required by 33 CFR 181.23;
(2) In close proximity to the driver's console such that it is in plain view from the console;
(3) If the vessel is twenty feet in length or less and is governed by 33 CFR 183.21, in close proximity to the capacity marking; and
(4) In close proximity to the make and/or model designation of the vessel.
§ 212.5   Recordation of distinctive identification of vessel designer.
(a) General. Any owner of a vessel design may record a distinctive identification with the Register of Copyrights for purposes of using such distinctive identification in a design protection notice required by 17 U.S.C. 1306. A distinctive identification of an owner may not be used in a design notice before it has first been recorded with the Register.
(b) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for the use of persons recording distinctive identifications of ownership of a vessel design. However, persons recording distinctive identifications are encouraged to use the suggested format available on the Copyright Office website ( http://www.loc.gov/copyright/vessels ).
(c) Recording distinctive identifications. Any distinctive identification of an owner of a vessel design may be recorded with the Register of Copyrights provided that a document containing the following is submitted:
(1) The name and address of the owner;
(2) A statement of the owner that he/she is entitled to use the distinctive identification;
(3) A statement or depiction of the identification; and
(4) The recordation fee in the amount prescribed in § 201.3(c) of this chapter.
(d) The document should be mailed to the address specified in § 201.1(b)(2) of this chapter.
§ 212.6   Recordation of transfers and other documents.
The conditions prescribed in § 201.4 of this chapter for recordation of transfers of copyright ownership and other documents pertaining to copyright are applicable to the recordation of documents pertaining to the protection of vessel designs under 17 U.S.C. chapter 13.
§ 212.7   Reconsideration procedure for refusals to register.
The requirements prescribed in § 202.5 of this chapter for reconsideration of refusals to register copyright claims are applicable to requests to reconsider refusals to register vessel designs under 17 U.S.C. chapter 13, unless otherwise required by this part.
§ 212.8   Correction of errors in certificates of registration.
(a) General. (1) This section prescribes conditions relating to the correction of clerical or typographical errors in a certificate of registration of a vessel design, under section 1319 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Public Law 105-304.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a basic registration means registration of a vessel design made under sections 1310 through 1314 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Public Law 105-304.
(3) No correction of the information in a basic registration will be made except pursuant to the provisions of this § 212.8. As an exception, where it is discovered that the record of a vessel design registration contains a clerical or typographical error made by the Copyright Office, the Office will take appropriate measures to rectify its error. Correction will be made only of clerical or typographical errors; errors of a different nature cannot be corrected and there is no procedure to amplify the registration record with additional information.
(b) Application for correction of error in certificate. At any time after registration of a vessel design, the Copyright Office will correct a clerical or typographical error in the registration upon the application of the owner of the registered design or the owner's authorized agent.
(c) Form and content of application to correct registration. (1) An application to correct a registration shall be made on a form prescribed by the Copyright Office, shall be accompanied by the appropriate filing fee identified in § 201.3(c) and shall contain the following information:
(i) The make and model of the vessel that embodies the registered design;
(ii) The registration number of the basic registration;
(iii) The year when the basic registration was completed;
(iv) The name or names of the designer or designers of the vessel design, and the owner or owners of the vessel design, as they appear in the basic registration;
(v) The space number and heading or description of the part of the basic registration where the error occurred;
(vi) A transcription of the erroneous information as it appears in the basic registration;
(vii) A statement of the correct information as it should have appeared;
(viii) If desired, an explanation of the error or its correction;
(ix) The name and address:
(A) To which the correspondence concerning the application should be sent; and
(B) To which the certificate of correction should be mailed; and
(x) The certification shall consist of:
(A) The typed, printed, or handwritten signature of the owner of the registered design or of the duly authorized agent of such owner (who shall also be identified);
(B) The date of the signature and, if the signature is handwritten, the typed or printed name of the person whose signature appears; and
(C) A statement that the person signing the application is the owner of the registered design or of the duly authorized agent of such owner, and that the statements made in the application are correct to the best of that person's knowledge.
(2) The form prescribed by the Copyright Office for the foregoing purposes is designated “Application to Correct a Design Registration (Form DC)”. Copies of the form are available free upon request to the Public Information Office, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20559-6000 or on the Copyright Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formdc.pdf.
(3) Copies, phonorecords or supporting documents cannot be made part of the record of a corrected certificate of registration and should not be submitted with the application.
(d) Fee. The filing fee for an application to correct a certificate of registration of a vessel design is prescribed in § 201.3(c).