Copyright Office October 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Copyright Office (``Copyright Office'' or ``Office'') is conducting the seventh triennial rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA''), concerning possible temporary exemptions to the DMCA's prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. In this proceeding, the Copyright Office has established a new, streamlined procedure for the renewal of exemptions that were granted during the sixth triennial rulemaking. It is also considering petitions for new exemptions to engage in activities not currently permitted by existing exemptions. On June 30, 2017, the Office published a Notice of Inquiry requesting petitions to renew existing exemptions and comments in response to those petitions, as well as petitions for new exemptions to engage in activities not currently permitted by existing exemptions. The Office has carefully considered the comments received in response to that Notice. With this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (``NPRM''), the Office intends to recommend each of the existing exemptions for readoption. This NPRM also initiates three rounds of public comment on the newly-proposed exemptions. Interested parties are invited to make full legal and evidentiary submissions in support of or in opposition to the proposed exemptions, in accordance with the requirements set forth below.