This series became, under the Copyright Act of 1905, the administrating series for Commonwealth Copyright. It contains 72,000 items.

Items are arranged by single number, and an unidentified set (A1336/3) featuring a U prefix, being 1 - 71834 (with gaps) and U1 - U153. The U prefixed numbers were imposed by National Archives.

Most items feature the application for registration, a statement of address, the examiners report, the accompanying exhibit and related correspondence. Because of the physical form of the series (namely the exhibits), set numbers have been allocated for internal control, these are:

A1336/1: the largest set, comprising files containing registration forms, correspondence, and standard sized exhibits such as soft cover booklets, sheet music, catalogues, plans, advertisements etc.

A1336/2: numbered exhibits, generally outsize, of varying physical form. Item numbers of exhibits will correspond to the item number of the corresponding application in A1336/1.

A1336/3: unnumbered exhibits.

Many larger exhibit items have been separated from their registration forms and associated correspondence and placed in A1336/2. A1336/3 are unnumbered because the links with their registrations have been lost. It is necessary to cross check item numbers for exhibits as no indication is given in A1336/1 if exhibits are held in another set.

There are also lists with titles of material originally held as other parts of the series. However, the numbers shown on the typed lists for A1336/8 and A1336/9 are not their registration numbers. It will be necessary to identify this material correctly by going to the Registers or Indexes for the year indicated and searching for these items by title. In fact, by dates, the material from A1336/9 is nearly all Colonial. The material formerly in A1336/6 and A1336/7 seems to have retained its original registered numbering on the typed lists.