Copyright Office 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Office has further revised its proposed fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account following feedback from interested parties in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on March 28, 2012. The modified fee schedule set forth below reflects an updated calculation of the cost of providing services.

The Copyright Office is amending its regulations for filing Notices of Intention to obtain a Section 115 compulsory license with the Copyright Office to provide an option for electronically filing notices. By law, such notices may be filed in the Office only when the public records of the Copyright Office do not identify the copyright owner of the musical work and include an address at which notice can be served. In addition, the Copyright Office is amending its regulations to clarify the rules for filing physical Notices of Intention, to clarify that it does not examine Notices of Intention filed with the Office for legal sufficiency, and to include a Privacy Act Advisory Statement.

The Copyright Office is adopting interim regulations that allow groups of related serial issues to be filed through the Office's electronic registration system. This interim rule will also allow applicants for groups of related serials, in certain circumstances, to mail physical deposit copies of the serial issues upon submitting an electronic application and payment, when electronic deposit copies do not exist. Regardless of the registration option chosen, applicants must still send two complimentary subscription copies of the serial promptly to the Library of Congress as a condition of eligibility unless directed otherwise by the Office. While filing electronically is not mandatory, the Copyright Office strongly urges applicants to use the electronic filing option since it is more efficient for both the user and the agency.

The U.S. Copyright Office is reviewing the problem of orphan works under U.S. copyright law in continuation of its previous work on the subject and in order to advise Congress as to possible next steps for the United States. The Office has long shared the concern with many in the copyright community that the uncertainty surrounding the ownership status of orphan works does not serve the objectives of the copyright system. For good faith users, orphan works are a frustration, a liability risk, and a major cause of gridlock in the digital marketplace. The issue is not contained to the United States. Indeed, in recent months, the European Commission has adopted measures that would begin to resolve the issue in certain contexts and a number of foreign governments are reviewing or proposing solutions. The Copyright Office seeks comments regarding the current state of play for orphan works. It is interested in what has changed in the legal and business environments during the past few years that might be relevant to a resolution of the problem and what additional legislative, regulatory, or voluntary solutions deserve deliberation. This is a general inquiry and the Office will likely publish additional notices on this topic.

The Copyright Office is again extending the deadline for filing reply comments in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the verification of Statements of Account and royalty payments that are deposited with the Office by cable operators and satellite carriers.

The Copyright Office is extending the period of public comment in response to its August 23, 2012 Notice of Inquiry requesting additional comments regarding issues relating to remedies for small copyright claims.

The Copyright Office is extending the deadline for filing comments and reply comments regarding its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning regulations for reporting Monthly and Annual Statements of Account for the making and distribution of phonorecords under compulsory licenses obtained pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 115.

This is the second request for public comment pertaining to a study undertaken by the U.S. Copyright Office at the request of Congress on the topic of adjudicating small copyright claims. The study will assess whether and, if so, how the current legal system hinders or prevents copyright owners from pursuing claims that have a relatively small economic value and will discuss, with appropriate recommendations, potential changes in administrative, regulatory, and statutory authority. At this time, the Office seeks additional comments on some of the possible alternatives. The Copyright Office also announces two public meetings following the comment period, to be held during November 2012 in New York and Los Angeles, respectively.

The Copyright Office is amending its regulations governing the deposit requirements for applications for automated databases that consist predominantly of photographs. The amendments require that, in addition to providing material related to claimed compilation authorship, the deposits for such databases include the image of each photograph in which copyright is claimed.

The Copyright Office is proposing a new regulation to implement provisions in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (``STELA'') that will allow copyright owners to audit certain Statements of Account filed with the Copyright Office. Cable operators and satellite carriers pay royalties to and file Statements of Account with the Copyright Office every six months as required by law for the use of the statutory licenses that allow for the retransmission of programming carried on over-the-air broadcast signals. However, until the passage of STELA the licenses did not authorize the copyright owners, who are the beneficiaries of the royalties collected, to audit the information on Statements of Account and the amounts paid for use of the statutory licenses.

The Copyright Office proposes to amend its regulations governing the definition of a ``claimant'' for purposes of copyright registration by eliminating the footnote to the definition of a ``claimant'' in Sec. 202.3(a)(3)(ii). The footnote currently extends the definition of a claimant to include individuals or entities that have obtained the contractual right to claim legal title to copyright in an application for copyright registration. This amendment would clarify that the copyright claimant must be either the author of the work, or a person or organization that has obtained ownership of all of the exclusive rights initially belonging to the author. The Copyright Office believes that the footnote creates considerable legal uncertainty while offering no clear benefits to the registration system. Removing it will foster the use of other available registration options that create a more meaningful public record.

The Copyright Office is publishing a final list of stations listed in affidavits sent to the Copyright Office in which the owner or licensee of the station attests that the station qualifies as a specialty station in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission's (``FCC'') definition of specialty station in effect on June 24, 1981. The list shall be used to verify the specialty station status of those stations identified as such by cable systems on their semi-annual statements of account.

The Copyright Office is proposing the adoption of new fees for the registration of claims, recordation of documents, special services, Licensing Division services, and processing of FOIA requests. The proposed fees would recover a significant part of the costs to the Office for services that benefit both copyright owners and the public, and provide full cost recovery for many services which benefit only or primarily the user of that service. As part of the fee setting process, the Office is providing an opportunity to the public to comment on the proposed changes before submitting the fee schedule to Congress for review.

The U.S. Copyright Office is in the process of reviewing its fees for services and will publish a proposed revised fee schedule in the spring. As part of the process of formulating that fee schedule, the Office seeks the views of interested parties on two particular issues: (1) With respect to the basic registration fee, should special consideration be provided to individual author-claimants registering a single work, and (2) are there any special services and corresponding fees the Office should expand, improve or add to its offerings at this time, including, for example, additional expedited services and fee options.