Copyright Claims Board: Final Determination Certification, 80743-80745 [2024-22907]

Agencies

• Library of Congress
• Copyright Office

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 80743-80745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22907]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Parts 201 and 229

[Docket No. 2024-5]


Copyright Claims Board: Final Determination Certification

AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule adjusting 
the process and fee to obtain a certified final determination from the 
Copyright Claims Board.

DATES: This rule is effective October 4, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhea Efthimiadis, Assistant to the 
General Counsel, by email at [email protected] or telephone at 202-
707-8350.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims 
Enforcement Act of 2020 (the ``CASE Act'') directed the Copyright 
Office to establish the Copyright Claims Board (the ``CCB''), an 
alternative and voluntary forum for parties seeking to

[[Page 80744]]

resolve certain copyright-related disputes that have a total monetary 
value of $30,000 or less. On May 17, 2022, the Copyright Office 
published a final rule addressing various topics governing the CCB, 
including how to obtain a certified official record of a CCB proceeding 
(the ``May 17 Rule'').\1\ The Office needed to promulgate a rule 
governing such requests due to the CASE Act's requirements for Federal 
court enforcement of the CCB's final determinations. Under the CASE 
Act, in situations where the non-prevailing party fails to comply with 
the final determination issued by the CCB in a proceeding, the 
prevailing party may ``apply to [an appropriate U.S. district court] 
for an order confirming the relief awarded in the final determination 
and reducing such award to judgment.'' \2\ Any such application to a 
Federal district court must include a ``certified copy of the final or 
amended final determination of the [CCB], as reflected in the records 
of the [CCB].'' \3\
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    \1\ 87 FR 30060 (May 17, 2022).
    \2\ 17 U.S.C. 1508(a).
    \3\ Id. at 1508(b)(2)(A).
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    The May 17 Rule stated that the CCB will certify the official 
record of a proceeding ``[u]pon a written request to the Records 
Research and Certification Section [(``RRC'')] of the U.S. Copyright 
Office . . . and payment of the appropriate fee.'' \4\ Pursuant to this 
rule, the Office's general process and fees for the retrieval, copying, 
and certification of Office records are applied to requests for a 
certified official record of a final CCB determination. The Office's 
combined fees for retrieval, copying, and certification, however, are 
likely to result in an amount that is more than the cost of initiating 
a proceeding before the CCB.\5\
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    \4\ 87 FR 30060, 30089.
    \5\ See 37 CFR 201.3(c)(19) (identifying certification fee as 
$200 per hour); id. at 201.3(c)(22)(ii) (identifying retrieval of 
digital records fee as $200 per hour, with a half hour minimum); id. 
at 201.3(d)(6) (identifying copying of Office records fee as $12); 
see also id. at 201.3(g)(1) (identifying $100 fee to initiate a 
Board proceeding).
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    This final rule creates a different process and fee for retrieving, 
copying, and certifying CCB determinations. Instead of making such 
certification requests to RRC, the final rule makes the CCB itself 
responsible for handling these requests.\6\ Further, to better reflect 
the statutory requirement that the ``final determination'' is the 
required documentation that must be submitted to a Federal district 
court to confirm the CCB award,\7\ the rule reflects that only the 
final or amended final determination must be certified and not the 
entire record. Finally, the Office believes that until it engages in a 
fee study,\8\ it is reasonable to set the new fee at $15--a fee very 
similar to what it charges for copying records.\9\ This lower fee is 
reasonable because, in contrast to the challenges of locating and 
certifying other Office records, the CCB's records are located on a 
dedicated electronic filing and case management platform (known as 
``eCCB'') where they can be quickly retrieved for certification.
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    \6\ The Board is comprised of three Copyright Claims Officers, 
whose duties include ``certify[ing] official records of [the 
Board's] proceedings.'' 17 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1), 1503(a)(1)(I).
    \7\ Id. at 1508(a), (b)(2)(A).
    \8\ The Register periodically engages in a statutorily required 
study of the costs incurred by the Office for providing various 
services and provides the public notice of any proposed changes in 
the Office's fees and the opportunity for public comment. See id. at 
708(b).
    \9\ 37 CFR 201.3(d)(6).
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    The Office is aware that there already may be circumstances where 
the CCB has issued a final determination, and a non-prevailing party 
has failed to pay damages (or has failed otherwise to comply with the 
relief awarded in the Board's final determination) in a timely manner. 
While prevailing parties could pay the currently applicable fee for 
records retrieval and certification, consistent with the goals of a 
small-claims tribunal to be affordable and efficient, it is appropriate 
to provide such parties immediate relief from paying these higher costs 
and streamlining the process to make such requests. For these reasons, 
the Office finds good cause to issue a direct final rule in this 
proceeding without first engaging in a public notice and comment 
process.\10\ Similarly, the Office finds that engaging in a notice and 
comment procedure would effectively unduly delay relief to prevailing 
parties in CCB proceedings and therefore finds good cause exists to 
issue these regulations as a final rule with an immediate effective 
date.\11\
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    \10\ 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
    \11\ Id. at 553(d).
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List of Subjects

37 CFR Part 201

    Copyright, General provisions.

37 CFR Part 229

    Claims, Copyright.

Final Regulations

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the U.S. Copyright Office 
amends chapter II, subchapters A and B, of title 37 Code of Federal 
Regulations, to read as follows:

Subchapter A--Copyright Office and Procedures

PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS

0
1. The general authority citation for part 201 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  17 U.S.C. 702.


0
2. In Sec.  201.3, in table 4 to paragraph (g), add paragraph (g)(4) to 
read as follows:


Sec.  201.3   Fees for registration, recordation, and related services, 
special services, and services performed by the Licensing Section and 
the Copyright Claims Board.

* * * * *
    (g) * * *

                        Table 4 to Paragraph (g)
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               Copyright Claims Board fees                   Fees ($)
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                              * * * * * * *
(4) Filing fee for the Copyright Claims Board to                      15
 retrieve, copy, and certify the official final
 determination or amended final determination of a
 proceeding (per record item)...........................
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[[Page 80745]]

Subchapter B--Copyright Claims Board and Procedures

PART 229--RECORDS AND PUBLICATION

0
3. The authority citation for part 229 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  17 U.S.C. 702, 1510.


0
4. Revise Sec.  229.2 to read as follows:


Sec.  229.2   Final determination certification.

    Upon a party's written request to the Board and payment of the 
appropriate fee pursuant to 37 CFR 201.3, the Board will provide a 
certified copy of a proceeding's final or amended final determination. 
A party who wishes to engage in this service should contact the Board 
for further instructions on how to make this request.

    Dated: September 26, 2024.
Shira Perlmutter,
Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
    Approved by:
Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2024-22907 Filed 10-3-24; 8:45 am]
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