Registration of Claims to Copyright-Renewals, 61801-61806 [E7-21115]

Agencies

• Library of Congress
• Copyright Office
• Copyright Office, Library of Congress

[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 211 (Thursday, November 1, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 61801-61806]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21115]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Part 202

[Docket No. RM 2007-8]


Registration of Claims to Copyright-Renewals

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is publishing a final rule amending its 
rules governing applications for registration of claims for renewal 
term of copyright. The regulations take into account the fact that, 
since January 1, 2006, all applications for renewal have necessarily 
related to works which are subject to automatic renewal and, thus, are 
already in their renewal terms, making impossible any 28th-year 
registration of claims to the renewal term.

EFFECTIVE DATE: November 1, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanya M. Sandros, General Counsel, 
Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: 
(202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On April 4, 2007, the Copyright Office published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking seeking comment on amending its rules governing 
applications for registration of claims to the renewal term of 
copyright. 72 FR 16306 (April 4, 2007). The proposed regulations take 
into account the fact that, since January 1, 2006, all applications for 
renewal have necessarily related to works which are subject to 
automatic renewal and, thus, are already in their renewal terms, making 
impossible any 28th-year registration of claims to the renewal term.
    The 1976 Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 101, et. seq., essentially 
carried over the copyright renewal system of the 1909 Copyright Act for 
all works subsisting in federal copyright protection before January 1, 
1976. Section 304(a) of Title 17 as originally enacted in 1976 provided 
that renewal registration had to be made during the 28th year of the 
original term of copyright in order to secure the additional (then 47) 
years of renewal-term protection. 17 U.S.C. 304(a) (1976).
    In 1992, Congress enacted a revision of section 304(a) of Title 17 
which made renewal copyright automatic for works first published or 
registered from January 1, 1964, through December 31, 1977. This 
amendment allowed the renewal right to vest without registration of: 
[a] the claim to copyright during the original, 28--year term; or, [b] 
the claim to renewal copyright during the year immediately prior to the 
beginning of the renewal term (i.e., during the 28th year); or, [c] the 
claim to renewal copyright during the renewal term. Pub. L. No. 102-
307, 106 Stat. 264, enacted June 26, 1992. In order to encourage 
renewal registration and provide a public record of renewal rights, 
however, Congress also amended section 304(a) to provide certain 
benefits to a party who undertook the renewal registration within the 
28th year of the original term of copyright. These benefits for works 
with timely renewal registrations include:
    1. A certificate of registration constitutes prima facie evidence 
as to

[[Page 61802]]

the validity of the copyright during its renewal term and of the facts 
stated in the certificate. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(4)(B).
    2. A derivative work prepared under the authority of a grant of a 
transfer or license of copyright in a work made before the expiration 
of the original term of copyright may not continue to be used under the 
terms of the grant during the renewal term without the authority of the 
owner of the renewal copyright. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(4)(A).
    3. A renewal copyright vests upon the beginning of the renewal term 
in the party who was entitled to claim the renewal of copyright at the 
time the application was made as provided under 17 U.S.C. 
304(a)(2)(A)(i) and (B)(i).
    Registration of a claim to the renewal term has also been possible 
since the 1992 amendment at any time during the renewal term, i.e., at 
any time beyond the 28th year of the original term of copyright. 17 
U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(A)(ii). Such renewal registration may be made whether 
or not an original-term registration was previously made. If no 
original-term registration was made, the renewal term applicant must 
provide information, under the provision of 17 U.S.C. 409 (11), 
regarding the original term of copyright. Such information must 
demonstrate that the work submitted for renewal registration complies 
with all requirements of the 1909 Act with respect to the existence, 
ownership, or duration of the copyright for the original term of the 
work. The Addendum to Form RE has been used to provide this information 
to the Copyright Office.
    The 1992 amendment further provided that, where no renewal 
registration has been made in the name of a party identified as 
entitled to the renewal right in the statute at 304(a)(1)(B) and (C), 
an application form may be filed at any time during the renewal term by 
any successor or assignee of such statutorily-enumerated party. Section 
304(a)(3).

II. Renewal Registration Procedures

    The Copyright Office has developed a revised application form for 
the registration of renewal claims. The revised Form RE, as well as the 
revised Form RE/CON (for use when additional information must be 
supplied) and Form RE/ADDENDUM (to be filed if the work, or the 
collective work in which it was first published, was not registered 
during the original term) is available on the Copyright Office website 
at www.copyright.gov as well as through postal mail upon request. Any 
requests to the Copyright Office for application forms for registration 
of claims to the renewal term will be filled with the newly revised 
form; the previously used forms will be obsolete, and the new forms 
must be used to file such renewal claims.
    One of the major changes to the form facilitates the filing of 
applications by successors or assignees of the statutory renewal 
claimants listed at 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(B) and (C). During the past 
several years, those successors or assignees of statutory claimants who 
wished to file an application to the renewal term, 17 U.S.C. 
304(a)(3)(A)(ii), had to seek advice from the Copyright Office because 
of the lack of appropriate application-form instructions for the 
successor or assignee situation; this has been addressed in the revised 
application form.

III. Summary of Revisions to Regulation at 37 CFR 202.17

    The revision of this regulatory section, 202.17, is extensive to 
the rule and reorders much of the information which previously appeared 
within this section. The most important change in information concerned 
the end of the 28th--year renewal registration possibility.
    1. Section 202.17(a) more specifically explains the relevant 
statutory changes of 1992 regarding renewal rights and sets out the 
distinction between pre-1964 works and post-1964 works with respect to 
renewal registration.
    2. Section 202.17(b) expands the list of terms defined to include 
``statutory claimant,'' ``assignee and successor,'' and ``vest'' as 
those terms relate specifically to the provisions of this renewal 
registration regulation.
    3. Section 202.17(c) explains the relevant time periods for both 
original term registration and renewal term registration and their 
optional character as they are set out in the 1992 revision of section 
304(a) of Title 17.
    4. Section 202.17(d) explains the benefits of 28th--year renewal 
registration under the 1992 revision to section 304(a) of Title 17 and 
indicates that such benefits have no longer been available since 
January 1, 2006, because the regime of 28th--year renewal registration 
has ended.
    5. Section 202.17(e) sets out the parties entitled to the renewal 
right under 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(B) and (C). This section also:
    a. clarifies that, in any derivative work which may be the subject 
of a renewal application, a renewal claim may be filed only in the new 
matter, revisions, or changes incorporated into that derivative work 
and which form the basis of the protected authorship for purposes of 
registration.
    b. clarifies that renewal claims for a work may, under certain 
circumstances, be filed under the posthumous work category and also 
under an individual claimant category but with the Copyright Office's 
taking no position as to which of such claims may be adjudicated to be 
valid.
    Two parties claiming renewal copyright who take different positions 
as to whether a particular work falls under the specific definition of 
``posthumous'' which Congress adopted from Bartok may, thus, file 
separate and competing claims in such a situation.
    c. explains several situations concerning the filing of a renewal 
registration claim where an executor or a party appointed to fulfill 
such duties may be the appropriate filer of a renewal claim or where 
conflicting claims between an administrator of a will and the author's 
next of kin may be accepted by the Copyright Office.
    The Office has also added a phrase, for purposes of Sec.  
202.17(e)(2)(iii)(C), qualifying that an executor appointed under a 
will must still be acting in that capacity at the time of registration 
when a renewal claim is filed. The phrase ``if still acting in that 
capacity at the time of registration'' is added to help claimants make 
decisions concerning their renewal submissions where an executor of a 
will may or may not be able to act in the filing of a renewal claim. 
For the uncertainties and varying situations concerning the presence or 
absence of an executor or administrator and the possibility of the next 
of kin's claiming as an appropriate section 304 statutory class, see 
e.g Silverman v. Sunrise Pictures Corp., 290 F. 804 (2d Cir.), cert. 
denied, 262 U.S. 758 (1923); Gibran v. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 153 F. 
Supp. 854 (S.D.N.Y. 1957), aff'd sub. nom., Gibran v. National 
Committee of Gibran, 255 F.2d 121 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 358 U.S. 828 
(1958); Capano Music v. Myers Music, Inc., 605 F. Supp. 692 (S.D.N.Y. 
1985).
    6. Section 202.17(f) clarifies the situations in which successors 
and assignees of the section 304(a)(1)(B) and (C) statutory renewal 
claimants may file applications for renewal registration.
    7. Section 202.17(g) indicates the information necessary on a 
renewal application form for a work for which a previous, original-term 
registration has been made.
    8. Section 202.17(h) indicates the information necessary on a 
renewal application form and the required accompanying deposit 
materials in situations for works where no original-term registration 
has been made. Concerning the Form RE/Addendum to be used in this 
situation of no original-

[[Page 61803]]

term registration, regulatory Sec.  202.17(h)(3)(vii) explains that the 
applicant must provide within the application an averment that all 
authorized copies of the work which were publicly distributed in the 
United States or elsewhere before March 1, 1989, carried a statutorily 
correct copyright notice.
    The Office received no comments from the public in response to its 
notice of a proposed rulemaking concerning these amendments to the 
regulations governing renewals. Hence, the Office is issuing a final 
rule incorporating the proposed revisions.

List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 202

    Claims to copyright, Copyright, Registration requirements, 
Renewals.

0
In consideration of the foregoing, 37 CFR part 202 is amended as 
follows:

PART 202--PREREGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT

0
1. The authority citation for part 202 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 17 U.S.C. 408, 702.

0
2. Section 202.17 is revised to read as follows:

Sec.  202.17 Renewals

    (a) General. (1) This section concerns renewal for copyrights 
originally secured from January 1, 1964, through December 31, 1977, 
either by publication with the required copyright notice or by 
registration as an unpublished work. Renewal registration for these 
works is optional. As provided in Pub. L. No. 102-307, 106 Stat. 264, 
enacted June 26, 1992, renewal registration made during the last year 
of the original 28-year term of copyright differs in legal effect from 
renewal registration made during the 67-year extended renewal term. In 
the latter instance, the copyright is renewed automatically at the 
expiration of the original 28-year term. In the former instance, 
renewal by registration during the last year of the original 28-year 
term vested the renewal copyright in the statutory claimant living on 
the date of registration.
    (2) Works for which copyright was secured before 1964 are governed 
by the provisions of 17 U.S.C. 304(a) in effect prior to the 1992 date 
of enactment of Pub. L. No. 102-307. The copyrights in such works could 
have been renewed by registration only within the last calendar year of 
the original 28-year term of copyright protection. If renewal 
registration was not made during that period of time, copyright 
protection was lost when the original term of copyright expired and 
cannot be regained.
    (3) Works restored to copyright by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 
are governed in their copyright term of protection by Pub. L. No. 103-
465, 108 Stat. 4809, 4976 (December 8, 1994). Under 17 U.S.C. 
104A(a)(1)(A) and (B), as amended, any work in which copyright is 
restored subsists for the remainder of the term of copyright that the 
work would have been otherwise granted in the United States. Such term 
includes the remainder of any applicable renewal term.
    (4) Automatic restoration of copyright in certain foreign works 
that were in the public domain in the United States may have occurred 
under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act and may be protected by 
copyright or neighboring rights in their ``source country,'' as defined 
at 17 U.S.C. 104A(h)(8).
    (b) Definitions. (1) For purposes of this section, the terms 
assignee and successor, as they pertain to 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(A)(ii), 
refer to a party which has acquired the renewal copyright in a work by 
assignment or by other means of legal succession from the statutory 
claimant [as that claimant is defined in 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(B) and 
(C)] in whom the renewal copyright vested but in whose name no renewal 
registration was previously made.
    (2) For purposes of this section, a work has been copyrighted when 
it has been published with a proper copyright notice or, in the case of 
an unpublished work, when it has been registered for copyright.
    (3) For purposes of this section, the term posthumous work means a 
work that was unpublished on the date of the death of the author and 
with respect to which no copyright assignment or other contract for 
exploitation of the work occurred during the author's lifetime.
    (4) For purposes of this section, the term statutory claimant 
means:
    (i) A party who was entitled to claim copyright for the renewal 
term at the time renewal registration was made either as a proprietary 
claimant, 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(2)(A)(i), or as a personal claimant, 17 
U.S.C. 304(a)(2)(B)(i), if registration was made during the original 
term of copyright; or
    (ii) If the original copyright term expired, a party who was 
entitled to claim copyright for the renewal term as of the last day of 
the original term of copyright as either a proprietary or a personal 
claimant, 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(2)(A)(ii) and (a)(2)(B)(ii).
    (5) For purposes of this section, the term to vest means to give a 
fixed, non-contingent right of present or future enjoyment of the 
renewal copyright in a work. If renewal registration was made during 
the 28th year of the original term of copyright, the renewal copyright 
vested in the party or parties entitled to claim such copyright at the 
time of registration as provided by 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(1)(B) and (C). 
Although the vested right may have been determined by registration 
during the 28th year of the original term, the exercise of such right 
did not commence until the beginning of the renewal term, as provided 
in 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(2). If renewal registration was not made during the 
28th year, the renewal copyright automatically vested upon the 
beginning of the renewal term in the party or parties entitled to claim 
such copyright on the last day of the original term as provided by 17 
U.S.C. 304(a)(2)(A)(ii) and (B)(ii).
    (c) Time limits: original term and renewal term registration. (1) 
Under 17 U.S.C. 304(a), prior to its amendment of June 26, 1992, a 
registration for the original term of copyright must have been made 
during the 28 years of that original term, and a renewal registration 
must also have been made during the 28th year of that term. Pub. L. No. 
102-307, 106 Stat. 264 (June 26, 1992) amended section 304(a) for works 
originally copyrighted from January 1, 1964, through December 31, 1977, 
and provided for optional original-term registration and optional 
renewal registration. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(2), (a)(3) and 409(11). For such 
works, claims to renewal copyright could have been registered during 
the last year of the original term but such registration was not 
required in order to enjoy statutory protection during the renewal 
term. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(B).
    (2) A renewal registration can be made at any time during the 
renewal term. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(A)(ii). If no original-term 
registration was made, renewal registration remains possible; but the 
Register may request information, under 17 U.S.C. 409(11), regarding 
the original term of copyright. Such information must demonstrate that 
the work complies with all requirements of the 1909 Act with respect to 
the existence, ownership, or duration of the copyright for the original 
term of the work. The Form RE/Addendum is used to provide this 
information.
    (3) Renewal registration is currently available for works 
copyrighted from January 1, 1964, through December 31, 1977. Under the 
provisions of 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(A)(ii), renewal registration may be 
made any time during the 67-year renewal term for such works according 
to the procedure indicated in paragraph (h) of this section. Such 
renewal registration is optional and is

[[Page 61804]]

not a condition of the subsistence of the copyright for the 67-year 
renewal term. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(3)(B). In the case of such works for 
which no registration was made during the original term of copyright, 
renewal registration may be made by submission of a Form RE/Addendum. 
The Addendum, an adjunct to the renewal form, concerns the facts of 
first publication for a work and assures the Copyright Office that the 
work as it existed in its original term of copyright was in compliance 
with the 1909 copyright law, 17 U.S.C. 1, et. seq. (1909 Act, in effect 
through December 31, 1977), whose provisions govern such works.
    (d) Benefits of 28th-year renewal registration. Prior to January 1, 
2006, renewal registration was available during the 28th year of the 
original term of copyright for works copyrighted from January 1, 1964, 
through December 31, 1977. As provided in Pub. L. No. 102-307, 106 
Stat. 264, registration made during the 28th year of the original term 
of copyright provided the following benefits to the registrant:
    (1) The certificate of registration constituted prima facie 
evidence as to the validity of the copyright during its renewal term 
and of the facts stated in the certificate. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(4)(B).
    (2) A derivative work prepared under the authority of a grant of a 
transfer or license of copyright in a work made before the expiration 
of the original term of copyright could not continue to be used under 
the terms of the grant during the renewal term without the authority of 
the owner of the renewal copyright. 17 U.S.C. 304(a)(4)(A).
    (3) The renewal copyright vested upon the beginning of the renewal 
term in the party entitled to claim the renewal of copyright at the 
time the application was made as provided under 17 U.S.C. 
304(a)(2)(A)(i) and (B)(i).
    (e) Statutory parties entitled to claim copyright for the renewal 
term under Section 304(a). (1) Renewal claims must be registered in the 
name of the party or parties entitled to claim copyright for the 
renewal term as provided in paragraphs (e)(2) through (4) of this 
section and as specified in 17 U.S.C. 304(a). If a work was a new 
version of a previously published or registered work, renewal 
registration may be claimed only in the new matter.
    (2) If the renewal claim was submitted during the last, i.e., the 
28th, year of the original term of copyright, the claim had to be 
registered in the name[s] of the statutory claimant[s] entitled to 
claim the renewal copyright on the date on which the claim was 
submitted to the Copyright Office. If the renewal claim is submitted 
during the sixty-seven year extended renewal term, the renewal claim 
can be registered only in the name[s] of the statutory claimant[s] 
entitled to claim the renewal on the last day (December 31) of the 
original term of copyright. These eligible renewal claimants are listed 
below:
    (i) The person who, on the applicable day, was the copyright 
proprietor is the appropriate renewal claimant in any posthumous work 
or any periodical, encyclopedia, or other composite work upon which the 
copyright was originally secured by the proprietor;
    (ii) The person who, on the applicable day, was the copyright 
proprietor is the appropriate claimant in any work copyrighted by a 
corporate body (otherwise than as assignees or licensees of the 
individual author), or by an employer for whom such work was made for 
hire;
    (iii) For any other copyrighted work, including a contribution by 
an individual author to a periodical or to a cyclopedic or other 
composite work, the appropriate claimants, in descending order of 
eligibility, are the person who, on the applicable day, was:
    (A) The author(s) of the work, if still living;
    (B) The widow(er) and/or child(ren) of the author, if the author 
was deceased on the applicable day;
    (C) The author's executor(s), if still acting in that capacity on 
the applicable day, provided the author had a will and neither the 
author, nor any widow(er) or child of the author is still living; or
    (D) The author's next of kin, in the absence of a will and if 
neither the author nor any widow, widower or child of the author is 
living.
    (3) The provisions of paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section are 
subject to the following qualification: Notwithstanding the definition 
of ``posthumous work'' in paragraph (b)(4) of this section, a renewal 
claim may be registered in the name of the proprietor of a work, as 
well as in the name of the appropriate claimant under paragraph 
(e)(2)(iii) of this section, in any case in which a contract for 
exploitation of the work but no copyright assignment in the work has 
occurred during the author's lifetime. However, registration by the 
Copyright Office in this case should not be interpreted as evidencing 
the validity of either claim.
    (4) The provisions of paragraphs (e)(2)(iii)(C) and (D) of this 
section are subject to the following qualifications:
    (i) In any case where:
    (A) The author has left a will which names no executor;
    (B) The author has left a will which names an executor who cannot 
or will not serve in that capacity; or
    (C) The author has left a will which names an executor who has been 
discharged upon settlement of the estate, removed before the estate has 
been completely administered, or is deceased at the time of the renewal 
registration submission, the renewal claim may be registered either in 
the name of an administrator cum testamento annexo (administrator 
c.t.a.) or an administrator de bonis non cum testamento annexo 
(administrator d.b.n.c.t.a.) so appointed by a court of competent 
jurisdiction.
    (ii) In any case described in paragraph (e) of this section, except 
in the case where the author has left a will without naming an executor 
and a court-appointed administrator c.t.a. or administrator 
d.b.n.c.t.a. is in existence at the time of renewal registration, the 
renewal claim also may be registered in the name of the author's next 
of kin. However, registration by the Copyright Office of conflicting 
renewal claims in such a case should not be interpreted as evidencing 
the validity of either claim.
    (f) Successors/assignees entitled to file an application for the 
renewal term under Section 304(a). The provisions of paragraph (e) of 
this section are subject to the following qualifications:
    (1) Where no renewal registration has been made in the name of a 
person or entity identified in paragraphs (e)(2)(i), (ii) and (iii) of 
this section, a renewal application may be filed at any time during the 
renewal term by any successor or assignee of such person or entity.
    (2) In such cases described in paragraph (f)(1)(i) of this section, 
the renewal application must identify the party in whom the renewal 
copyright vested; must indicate the basis upon which copyright for the 
renewal term vested in that party; must identify the party who is the 
successor or assignee of the statutory claimant under 17 U.S.C. 
304(a)(3); and, must give the manner by which such successor/assignee 
secured the renewal copyright.
    (3) When such a claim has been filed by a successor or assignee in 
the name of the statutory claimant as described in paragraph (e)(2)(i), 
(ii) and (iii) of this section, generally no subsequent claims may be 
filed by other successors or assignees whose rights are derived from 
the same statutory claimant. If a public record of renewal ownership is 
sought by other successors or assignees of the same statutory claimant, 
the document of transfer of the renewal copyright, either the renewal 
in its entirety or in

[[Page 61805]]

part, may be recorded in the Copyright Office.
    (4) Where a successor or assignee claims the renewal right from the 
same statutory claimant as does another successor or assignee, the 
Copyright Office may inquire concerning the situation and, if 
appropriate, may allow adverse renewal claims from the successors/
assignees to be placed on the public record. In such cases, 
correspondence between the parties filing competing renewal claims and 
the Copyright Office will be, as always, maintained within Office 
records and subject to public inspection according to regulations found 
at 37 CFR 201.2.
    (g) Application for renewal registration for a work registered in 
its original 28-year term. (1) Each application for renewal 
registration shall be submitted on Form RE. All forms are available 
free of charge via the Internet by accessing the Copyright Office 
homepage at https://www.copyright.gov. Copies of Form RE are also 
available free upon request to the Public Information Office, United 
States Copyright Office, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, 
Washington, DC 20559-6000.
    (2) (i) An application for renewal registration may be submitted by 
any eligible statutory renewal claimant as specified in paragraph (e) 
of this section or by the duly authorized agent of such claimant, or by 
the successor or assignee of such claimant as provided under paragraph 
(f) of this section or by the duly authorized agent of such successor 
or assignee.
    (ii) An application for renewal registration shall be accompanied 
by the required fee as set forth in 37 CFR 201.3. The application shall 
contain the information required by the form and its accompanying 
instructions, and shall include a certification. The certification 
shall consist of:
    (A) A designation of whether the applicant is the renewal claimant, 
or a successor or assignee, or the duly authorized agent of such 
claimant or of such successor or assignee (whose identity shall also be 
given);
    (B) The handwritten signature of such claimant, successor or 
assignee, or agent, accompanied by the typewritten or printed name of 
that person;
    (C) A declaration that the statements made in the application are 
correct to the best of that person's knowledge; and
    (D) The date of certification.
    (3) Once a renewal registration has been made, the Copyright Office 
will not accept another application for renewal registration on behalf 
of the same renewal claimant.
    (h) Renewal with addendum registration for an unregistered work. 
(1) General. For published works copyrighted from January 1, 1964, 
through December 31, 1977, where no registration was made during the 
original term of copyright and where renewal registration is sought 
during the 67-year renewal term, the Form RE/Addendum must be used to 
provide information concerning the original term of copyright. The Form 
RE/Addendum requires a separate fee and the deposit of one copy or 
phonorecord of the work as first published (or identifying material in 
lieu of a copy or phonorecord). The effective date of registration for 
a renewal claim submitted on a Form RE/Addendum is the date the 
Copyright Office receives an acceptable completed application, the 
required fees, and an acceptable deposit for the work.
    (2) Time Limits. A renewal claim accompanied by an Addendum to Form 
RE may be filed at any time during the 67-year renewal term.
    (3) Content. The Form RE/Addendum must contain the following 
information:
    (i) The title of the work;
    (ii) The name of the author(s);
    (iii) The date of first publication of the work;
    (iv) The nation of first publication of the work;
    (v) The citizenship of the author(s) on the date of first 
publication of the work;
    (vi) The domicile of the author(s) on the date of first publication 
of the work;
    (vii) An averment that, at the time of first publication, and 
thereafter until March 1, 1989 [effective date of the Berne 
Implementation Act of 1988], all the copies or phonorecords of the 
work, including reprints of the work, published, i.e., publicly 
distributed in the United States or elsewhere, under the authority of 
the author or other copyright proprietor, bore the copyright notice 
required by the Copyright Act of 1909 and that United States copyright 
subsists in the work;
    (viii) For works of United States origin which were subject to the 
manufacturing provisions of section 16 of the Copyright Act of 1909 as 
it existed at the time the work was published, the Form RE/Addendum 
must also contain information about the country of manufacture and the 
manufacturing processes; and
    (ix) The handwritten signature of the renewal claimant or successor 
or assignee, or the duly authorized agent of the claimant or of the 
successor or assignee. The signature shall be accompanied by the 
printed or typewritten name of the person signing the Addendum and by 
the date of the signature; and shall be immediately preceded by a 
declaration that the statements made in the application are correct to 
the best of that person's knowledge.
    (4) Fees. Form RE and Form RE/Addendum must be accompanied by the 
required fee for each form as required in 37 CFR 201.3.
    (5) Deposit requirement. One copy or phonorecord or identifying 
material of the work as first published in accordance with the deposit 
requirements set out in 37 CFR 202.20 and 202.21 is required.
    (6) Waiver of the deposit requirement. Where the renewal applicant 
asserts that it is either impossible or otherwise an undue hardship to 
satisfy the deposit requirements of 37 CFR 202.20 and 202.21, the 
Copyright Office, at its discretion, may, upon receipt of an acceptable 
explanation of the inability to submit such copy or identifying 
material, permit the deposit of the following in descending order of 
preference. In every case, however, proof of the copyright notice 
showing the content and location of the notice as it appeared on copies 
or phonorecords of the work as first published must be included.
    (i) A reproduction of the entire work as first published (e.g., 
photocopy, videotape, audiotape, CD-ROM, DVD are examples of physical 
media which may hold reproductions of a work as first published). If 
the work is a contribution to a periodical, a reproduction of only the 
contribution (including the relevant copyright notice) will suffice.
    (ii) A reprint of the work (e.g., a later edition, a later release 
of a phonorecord, or the like). The reprint must show the copyright 
notice as it appeared in the same location within the first published 
copy of the work as well as the exact content of the copyright notice 
appearing in the first published edition. If the copyrightable content 
of the reprint differs from that of the first published edition, an 
explanation of the differences between the two editions is required.
    (iii) Identifying material including a reproduction of the greatest 
feasible portion of the copyrightable content of a work including a 
photocopy or photograph of the title page, title screen, record label 
or the like, as first published, and a photocopy or photograph showing 
the copyright notice content and location as first published. The 
Copyright Office may request deposit of additional material if the 
initial submission is inadequate for examination purposes.


[[Page 61806]]


    Dated: October 4, 2007.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
    Approved by:
James H. Billington,
The Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. E7-21115 Filed 10-31-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-S