A useful article is an object that has an intrinsic utilitarian function that is not just for portraying the appearance of the article or for conveying information. See the Copyright Office's definition of useful articlehere.
As the US Supreme Court has noted, "restored" is a misnomer. "Restored copyrights" include not only copyrights on works that have lapsed and are restored, but also new US copyrights on works that were never covered by copyright, due to failure to meet certain conditions imposed under older US copyright law (such as the notice requirement). Golan v. Holder, 565 U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 873 (2012), at 14 n.13Archived 2012-01-22 at the Wayback Machine ("Restoration is a misnomer insofar as it implies that all works protected under § 104A previously enjoyed protection. Each work in the public domain because of lack of national eligibility or subject matter protection, and many that failed to comply with formalities, never enjoyed U. S. copyright protection.")
As the US Supreme Court has noted, "restored" is a misnomer. "Restored copyrights" include not only copyrights on works that have lapsed and are restored, but also new US copyrights on works that were never covered by copyright, due to failure to meet certain conditions imposed under older US copyright law (such as the notice requirement). Golan v. Holder, 565 U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 873 (2012), at 14 n.13Archived 2012-01-22 at the Wayback Machine ("Restoration is a misnomer insofar as it implies that all works protected under § 104A previously enjoyed protection. Each work in the public domain because of lack of national eligibility or subject matter protection, and many that failed to comply with formalities, never enjoyed U. S. copyright protection.")
