The Copyright Office has issued a guide to registration of copyright in Web sites and other online works. This article summarizes the policies and procedures set forth in that document, Circular 66.
Even when stored exclusively as computer code, Web sites are not usually considered “computer programs” for registration purposes. Rather, Web site registration will generally be made to protect the textual, graphic and audio content of a site, not the underlying code. Accordingly, the registration should be filed according to the type of conventional authorship the site contains, using the standard Copyright Office forms:
- TX for literary works;
- VA for pictorial and graphic works;
- PA for audiovisual material (including sounds); and
- SR for sound recordings.
