Legal Definitions - Rule of Doubt

The Rule of Doubt is a regulation used by the U.S. Copyright Office to accept copyright registration of software object code, even if they cannot verify whether the code contains copyrightable work. This rule applies when the registration specialist is unable to examine the code to determine whether it contains copyrightable work.

For example, if someone wants to register their software's object code, but the registration specialist cannot determine whether the code is copyrightable, the Rule of Doubt will apply. The Copyright Office will assume that the code is copyrightable and will register the claim.

When the Rule of Doubt is used, an annotation will be added to the certificate of registration and the online copyright public record indicating that the copyright was registered with the Rule of Doubt. This rule is used to ensure that software developers can protect their work, even if it is difficult to determine whether it is copyrightable.