Copyright Office 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Librarian of Congress is extending, on an interim basis, the existing classes of works with respect to which the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works shall not apply to persons who engage in noninfringing uses.

The Copyright Office is extending the time in which reply comments may be filed in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding amendments to regulations governing mandatory deposit of electronic works published in the United States and available only online.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is publishing an interim rule relating to fees for special handling of registration claims that have been pending for at least six months. Special handling is the expedited processing of an application and is granted in certain circumstances when compelling reasons are present. Ordinarily a special handling fee is charged for special handling in addition to the regular fee for an application to register a copyright claim. Because of current delays in the processing of applications for registration occurring in the course of the Office's implementation of its business process reengineering program, the Office has determined that the special handling fee shall not be assessed for conversion of a pending application to special handling status when the application has been pending for more than six months and the applicant has satisfied the Office that expedited handling of the registration is needed because the applicant is about to file a suit for copyright infringement.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is proposing to amend its regulations governing mandatory deposit of electronic works published in the United States and available only online. The amendments would establish that such works are exempt from mandatory deposit until a demand for deposit of copies or phonorecords of such works is issued by the Copyright Office. They would also set forth the process for issuing and responding to a demand for deposit, amend the definition of a ``complete copy'' of a work for purposes of mandatory deposit of online-only works, and establish new best edition criteria for electronic serials available only online. The Copyright Office seeks public comment on these proposed revisions.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is publishing a final rule establishing adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees will recover a significant part of the costs to the Office of registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many other services provided by the Office which benefit only or primarily the user of that service. The new fees are based on reliable information regarding the costs of providing services, and reflect cost savings associated with the implementation of electronic processing in the Copyright Office in 2007. Under the new fee structure, the fee for online registration of a basic claim will remain $35. The registration fee for Form CO will be raised from $45 to $50 and the registration fee for paper filings of Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE and faulty CO will be raised from $45 to $65. In a few instances, fees have been adjusted downward from the fees published in the notice of proposed rulemaking in light of comments received from the public.

The United States Copyright Office (Copyright Office) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announce that interested parties may submit electronic comments and reply comments on facilitating access to copyrighted works for the blind or other persons with disabilities.

The Copyright Office is adopting amendments to its regulations governing the recordation of notices of termination and certain related provisions.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress will be holding public hearings on the possible exemptions to the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. In accordance with the Copyright Act, as amended by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Office is conducting its triennial rulemaking proceeding to determine whether there are particular ``classes of works`` as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses if they are prohibited from circumventing such technological measures.

The Register of Copyrights issues the following decision identifying and correcting erroneous resolutions of material questions of substantive law under title 17 that underlie or are contained in the Copyright Royalty Judges' final determination regarding adjustment of reasonable rates and terms of royalty payments for the making and distribution of phonorecords of musical works, Docket No. 2006-3 CRB DPRA. The Register concludes that the Copyright Royalty Judges erroneously did not refer two novel questions of law as required under the statute; that they were in error in their conclusions regarding both their and the Register's authority to review regulations submitted to them under an agreement by the participants; and that their conclusion that they could not review the agreement submitted by the participants led to the inclusion of regulations that constitute erroneous resolution by the CRJs of material questions of substantive law under title 17. This decision corrects such errors and shall be made part of the record of the proceeding (Docket No. 2006-3 CRB DPRA).