Registering a copyright for a book of photos: Visual or Literary?

Factual Questions
1

I’ve done copyrights for straight-up literary books before, but a friend just asked for advice re: registering a copyright on a book of photographs. (He’s got the ISBN, etc., so this is an actual catalogue- and sales-worthy book that will be reproduced in multiple copies–not just a single collection of photographs.)

Should he register it as a literary work ( http://www.copyright.gov/register/literary.html ) since it’s a book, or as a work of visual arts ( http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html ) since it’s mostly photographs?

2

Well, the majority of my knowledge base is regarding music copyright, but it would seem to me that the collection as a whole, in book form, should be registered as a literary copyright.

That said, copyright is implicit in the creation of a work in a fixed form, so protection already exists, statutorily speaking. Also, copyright of a book of photographs would provide protection on each image therein, provided the photograph is not already registered individually. Specific registration would supersede, I do believe.

You also might look into ‘body-of-work’ copyright registration - it is a method that allows a collection of work to be protected under one ‘umbrella’ registration. It’s often used to register large song catalogs, multiple albums, etc. I see no reason why it couldn’t apply here as well, as the principle is the same.

IANAL. Some restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. This bag is not a toy.