Registration of Vessel Hull Designs
The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, Title 17, Chapter 13
off the United States Code, was signed into law on October 28, 1998,
providing for protection for original designs of vessel hulls. The new law
grants an owner of an original vessel hull design certain exclusive rights
provided that application for registration of the design with the Copyright
Office is made within two years of the design being made public. Protection
is afforded only to vessel hull designs embodied in actual vessel hulls that
are publicly exhibited, publicly distributed, or offered for sale or sold
to the public on or after October 28, 1998. The Copyright Office has promulgated
interim regulations for registration
of vessel hull designs.
Registration of a vessel hull design must be made on a Form D-VH.
A continuation sheet, Form D-VH/CON, may be used if additional
space is required. In order to be considered for registration,
a submitted application must include the following elements: (1) a completed
and signed Form D-VH; (2) deposit material identifying the design or designs
for which registration is sought; and (3) the appropriate fee. The basic application
fee for each design is $140.
The deposit material may consist of either drawings or photographs of the
design. Because the drawings or photographs constitute the entire visual disclosure
of the design, they should be clear and complete, and include a sufficient
number of views so that the appearance of the design is adequately shown.
Please consult the "Basic Information" section of Form D-VH for
the requirements for deposit material.
A single application may be used for more than one design embodied in the
same vessel provided that the information contained in all spaces of the application
other than the information describing the design is the same for each design.
See the instructions for Space 2 on Form D-VH and use
Form D-VH/CON. The basic application fee for each design
included in the application is $140.
The effective date of a vessel hull design registration is the date on which
the Copyright Office publishes notice of the registration. Notice of registration
will be published on the Copyright Office website, and registrations may be
viewed, in reverse chronological order, by clicking here.
Although design protection and copyright protection under title 17 of the
United States Code are both administered by the Register of Copyrights, they
are not identical. Design protection differs significantly in most respects,
including term of protection, ownership, eligibility, scope of protection
and registration procedures. While some designs that are eligible for design
protection may also be eligible for copyright protection, design registration
does not include a copyright registration. Copyright registration must be
made separately.
Design protection under the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act is not available,
and registration may not be made, for designs that have received patent protection
under title 35 of the United States Code.
When a design protected under the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act is publicly
exhibited, publicly distributed, or offered for sale or sold to the public, a
design notice should appear on the vessel in the manner set forth in section
212.4 of the interim regulations.
The notice may contain, in place of the name of the owner of the design, a
distinctive identification of the owner if the distinctive
identification has been recorded with the Copyright Office.
The Copyright Office and the Patent and Trademark Office delivered a
report, "The Vessel Hull Design Protection Act: Overview and Analysis,"
to Congress on November 3. Congress directed the Register of Copyrights
and the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property/Director
of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to conduct a study and
report to Congress on the effectiveness of the Vessel Hull Design Protection
Act (VHDPA), enacted in 1998, which created sui generis protection for
original designs of water craft hulls and decks.
Vessel Hull Design Protection Act: Overview and Analysis
Appendices
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