Q: Can an employee of the USCO speak on the contents of a claim?
I recently registered a copyright claim with the USCO. The contents included a detailed description of an idea I had. Now I'm worried that since ideas can't be copyrighted, an employee of the USCO could legally share the idea with a third party. Owning the text that describes the idea on its own isn't worth anything to me if I can't own the idea it describes. Is there a cause for concern?
A: The copyright registration application is a public record available for inspection and copying by anyone, see https://www.copyright.gov/title37/201/37cfr201-2.html, but the U.S. Copyright Office and its employees are generally prohibited from "sharing" the contents of applications with third parties other than through official inspection rights and Freedom of Information Act requests.
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