Dear Somiya Gabb:
I’ve finished reviewing the material that you submitted with your application, as well as your correspondence to date. What you have sent the Copyright Office consists of several elements: XML, HTML source code, WordPress settings, and the text and associated data from WordPress entries. Unfortunately, the majority of this is not something you can claim on a copyright application. Specifically, it appears that the XML, HTML source code, and WordPress settings cannot be registered for multiple reasons. First, the majority of the code was created by WordPress as part of the overall backend of the WordPress platform. This is proprietary code created by WordPress, and because you are not the author, you cannot claim it on your application. Second, some of this material was generated by the WordPress platform as part of exporting the site into an RSS file. Code generated by a computer program (in this case, the computer program is the WordPress platform) contains no direct human authorship, and the Copyright Office will not knowingly register works that contain no direct human authorship.You can register any text, photographs, or artwork that you created and then posted on a website powered by WordPress, but the deposit you sent us is not the way to do so.
This is proprietary code created by WordPress, and because you are not the author, you cannot claim it on your application.
To register the content of an online work, the Copyright Office needs a complete copy of the content you intend to register (text, artwork, etc.) in a format that allows us to perceive the actual content and context where the work appears online (i.e., on a given website or webpage). In other words, the deposit should show how the content would be perceived when a user accesses that content in the online environment. Typically, that submission is the form of PDFs of the website as viewed through an internet browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge). If the work is unpublished and no earlier version has been registered, the deposit copy may include all of the content that is owned by the copyright claimant as of the date that the application is submitted. If the work has been published, the deposit copy should include the content as it existed on the date of first publication specified in the application, and the claim should be limited to the content that was first published on that date. For more information on how to register an online work, you may wish to view Circular 66: Copyright Registration of Websites and Website Content. https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ66.pdf
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If you are interested in learning more about this copyright case, please contact me using my website contact page.
~ Somiya
Somiya Chapman 