Rule of doubt

“The Copyright Office will issue a certificate of registration, even when an applicant for registration of a computer program containing trade secrets is not willing to submit source code and submits object code instead. When it issues such a registration, it does so under the 'rule of doubt' procedure. The 'rule of doubt' is more accurately described as the rule of 'the benefit of the doubt' (in favor of the copyright applicant). If the application is otherwise proper, the Copyright Office will issue such a registration, which makes it clear that no determination has been made concerning the existence of copyrightable authorship. The Copyright Office issues its registration on this limited basis because of its belief that object code is 'basically unintelligible' to its examiners, so that they cannot make a definitive determination of its copyrightability. In order to receive such a rule of doubt registration, the applicant must submit a letter stating that the program does contain original authorship.

“While there is no clear law delineating how the rule of doubt registration affects the status of the registered work in litigation, it is likely that such a registration would not be accorded the same weight as a conventional registration. The Copyright Office has recognized that in making this kind of registration, the burden is placed on the courts to make a determination about the existence of copyrightable subject authorship. This additional burden is especially important in the case of requests to the court for preliminary relief in the form of temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions.”