Copyright Office – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing an interim rule regarding the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. The law establishes a new blanket compulsory license that will be administered by a mechanical licensing collective, which will make available a public musical works database as part of its statutory duties. Having solicited public comments through previous notifications of inquiry and a notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office is issuing interim regulations prescribing categories of information to be included in the public musical works database, as well as rules related to the usability, interoperability, and usage restrictions of the database. The Office is also issuing interim regulations related to ensuring appropriate transparency of the mechanical licensing collective itself.

The U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a study to evaluate the degree to which copyright owners are experiencing infringement by state entities without adequate remedies under state law, as well as the extent to which such infringements appear to be based on intentional or reckless conduct. To aid its analysis, the Office is announcing public roundtables to provide the opportunity for members of the public to address the following topics: Evidence of actual or threatened copyright infringement by states; state policies and practices for minimizing copyright infringement and addressing infringement claims; and alternative remedies under state law for copyright infringement.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing an interim rule regarding the obligations of the mechanical licensing collective to report and distribute royalties paid by digital music providers under the blanket license to musical work copyright owners under title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. After soliciting public comments through a notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office is now issuing regulations establishing the timing, form, and delivery of statements accompanying royalty distributions to musical work copyright owners. These regulations concern only royalty statements and distributions regarding matched uses of musical works embodied in sound recordings and do not address issues related to the distribution of unclaimed, accrued royalties.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing an interim rule regarding information to be provided by digital music providers pursuant to the new compulsory blanket license to make and deliver digital phonorecords of musical works established by title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. The law establishes a new blanket license, to be administered by a mechanical licensing collective, and to become available on the January 1, 2021 license availability date. Having solicited multiple rounds of public comments through a notification of inquiry and notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office is adopting interim regulations concerning notices of license, data collection and delivery efforts, and reports of usage and payment by digital music providers. The Office is also adopting interim regulations concerning notices of nonblanket activity and reports of usage by significant nonblanket licensees and data collection efforts by musical work copyright owners.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for the submission of written comments in response to its June 3, 2020, notice of inquiry regarding its state sovereign immunity policy study. In addition, the Office is providing for a second round of written comments.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulations to establish a new group registration option for short online literary works. This final rule largely adopts the eligibility requirements set forth in the Office's December 2018 notice of proposed rulemaking, with certain updates. To qualify for this option, each work must contain at least 50 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual, or jointly by the same individuals, and each creator must be named as the copyright claimant or claimants for each work. The works must all be published online within a three-calendar- month period. If these requirements have been met, the applicant may submit up to 50 works with one application and one filing fee. The applicant must complete an online application designated for a group of ``Short Online Literary Works'' and upload a .ZIP file containing a separate digital file for each work. The Office will examine each work to determine if it contains a sufficient amount of creative authorship, and if the Office registers the claim, the registration will cover each work as a separate work of authorship.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for the submission of written comments in response to its March 3, 2020, statement of policy and notification of inquiry regarding registration modernization.

This final rule makes non-substantive technical amendments to the U.S. Copyright Office's regulations governing the submission of designated agent and service provider information to the Office pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'').

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulation governing the group registration option for newsletter issues. The proposed rule eliminates the requirement that newsletters must be published at least two days each week to qualify for a group registration. This will let a broader range of newsletter publishers register a month of issues, without imposing an administrative burden on the Office. In addition, the proposed rule updates the address where complimentary subscriptions should be sent for purposes of satisfying the mandatory deposit requirement for newsletters and other serials.

The United States Copyright Office is issuing a supplemental interim rule amending its regulations governing recordation of transfers of copyright ownership, notices of termination, and other documents pertaining to a copyright. This rule supplements the Office's current interim recordation regulations in anticipation of the Office's forthcoming pilot program through which participating remitters will be able to record certain types of documents electronically online. The supplemental interim rule and pilot program are the next step in the recordation modernization process, which will lead to a full public release of the Office's electronic recordation system in the future.

The U.S. Copyright Office is undertaking an effort to provide additional guidance regarding the determination of a work's publication status for registration purposes. To aid this effort, the Office is seeking public input on this topic, including feedback regarding issues that require clarification generally, as well specific suggestions about how the Office may consider amending its regulations and, as appropriate, effectively advise Congress regarding possible changes to the Copyright Act. Based on this feedback, the Office may solicit further written comments and/or schedule public meetings before moving to a rulemaking process.

As directed by the Music Modernization Act, the U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a study to evaluate best practices that the Mechanical Licensing Collective should implement in the following areas: (1) To identify and locate musical work copyright owners and unclaimed accrued royalties held by the collective; (2) to encourage musical work copyright owners to claim the royalties of those owners; and (3) to reduce the incidence of unclaimed royalties. To initiate this effort, the Office is holding a one-day symposium to provide an educational foundation and facilitate public discussion on issues relevant to the study. Following this symposium, the Office will separately issue Notices of Inquiry soliciting written comments and announcing roundtables, both of which will provide opportunities for public input on the Unclaimed Royalties Study.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for the submission of written comments in response to its March 15, 2019, notice announcing the release of a public draft of an update to its administrative manual, the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulations pertaining to the registration of architectural works. To improve the efficiency of the registration process, and encourage broader participation in the registration system, the final rule will require applicants to submit their claims using an online application, rather than a paper application. Applicants will be required to provide a date of construction, but only if the work was embodied in unpublished plans or drawings on or before December 1, 1990 and if the work was constructed before January 1, 2003. And, applicants will be encouragedbut not requiredto upload a digital copy of their architectural works through the electronic registration system, instead of submitting a physical copy.

Pursuant to the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (``MMA''), the U.S. Copyright Office is adopting as final a rule regarding the filing of schedules by rights owners listing their sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, and the filing of contact information by entities publicly performing these sound recordings by means of digital audio transmission. This rule largely finalizes the interim rule published on October 16, 2018, with some adjustments adopted in response to public comment.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulation governing the group registration option for newspaper issues. This rule will eliminate the three-month deadline for submitting this type of claim. Based on requests received from several newspaper publishers, the Office has determined that there is a legitimate need to make this change effective immediately.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule that amends its regulations governing its practices and procedures under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The final rule closely follows the February 7, 2017 interim rule, implementing the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. The final rule makes limited modifications to align with public comments and to promote further regulatory clarity and customer service.

The U.S. Copyright Office is publishing a list of works for which it has received and processed a Notice of Intent to Enforce copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. The Office is required by law to publish such lists to provide a public record of works in which copyrights have been restored and whose owners have notified the Office of their intent to enforce those copyrights. In addition, publication triggers the statutory 12-month grace period within which reliance parties may continue to exploit existing copies of the identified works.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulations to update the eligibility requirements for its application forms to reflect recent technical updates. The final rule clarifies that the Single Application may be used to register one work that is created and solely owned by one author and is not a work made for hire. It also confirms that this application may be used to register one sound recording and one musical work, literary work, or dramatic work, notwithstanding the fact that a sound recording and the work embodied in that recording are separate works. The final rule further clarifies the eligibility requirements for the Standard Application, which may be used to register certain works that are not eligible for the Single Application. It updates the eligibility requirements for the paper applications of both the Single Application and Standard Application by clarifying that these forms may be certified with a typed, printed, or handwritten signature, and by eliminating the ``short form'' version of these forms. The rule also makes several technical amendments to the regulations governing preregistration, mask works, vessel designs, the unit of publication registration option, and the group registration option for database updates.

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to create a new group registration option for certain types of literary works. To qualify for this option, each work must contain at least 100 but no more than 17,500 words. The works must be created by the same individual, and that individual must be named as the copyright claimant for each work. The works must all be published online within a three-calendar-month period. If these requirements have been met, the applicant may submit up to 50 works with one application and one filing fee. The applicant must complete the online application designated for a ``literary work'' and upload a digital copy of each work. The Office will examine each work to determine if it contains a sufficient amount of creative authorship, and if the Office registers the claim, the registration will cover each work as a separate work of authorship. The Office invites comment on this proposal.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulations governing the group registration options for newsletters and serials. With respect to group newsletters, the final rule amends the definition of ``newsletter,'' eliminating the requirement that each issue must be a work made for hire, and the provision stating that group newsletter claims must be received within three months after publication. Under the final rule, newsletter publishers now should register their issues with the online application and upload a digital copy of each issue through the electronic registration system instead of submitting them in a physical form. With respect to group serials, the final rule clarifies that serials governed by the rule generally must be published at intervals of a week or longer, and that the publication dates provided in the application need not match the dates appearing on the issues themselves. In addition, the rule phases out the paper application for group serials and the submission of physical copies. Beginning one year after the rule goes into effect, serial publishers will be required to use the online application for group serials and to upload a digital copy of each issue, rather than submitting them in a physical form. The final rule updates the regulations for both newsletters and serials by confirming that publishers do not need to provide the Library of Congress with complimentary subscriptions to or microfilm of each issue as a condition for registering their works with the Office, but newsletter and serial issues that are submitted for purposes of registration will no longer satisfy the mandatory deposit requirement. Publishers will be expected to separately provide the Library with two complimentary subscriptions if the newsletter or serial is published in the United States in a physical format (unless the publisher is informed that the publication is not needed for the Library's collections). If the newsletter or serial is published solely in electronic form, the publisher will remain exempt from mandatory deposit unless the Office issues a formal demand for copies of that publication.

The U.S. Copyright Office is building a new registration system to meet the demands of the digital age. As the Office develops a new technological infrastructure for this system, it is considering several legal and policy changes to improve user experience, increase Office efficiency, and decrease processing times. The Office is seeking public comment to inform its decisions on how to improve the regulations and practices related to the registration of copyright claims.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a notice of inquiry regarding the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the recently enacted Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. In connection with the establishment of federal remedies for unauthorized uses of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972 (``Pre-1972 Sound Recordings''), Congress also established an exception for certain noncommercial uses of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings that are not being commercially exploited. To qualify for this exemption, a user must file a notice of noncommercial use after conducting a good faith, reasonable search to determine whether the Pre-1972 Sound Recording is being commercially exploited, and the rights owner of the sound recording must not object to the use within 90 days. To promulgate the regulations required by the new statute, the Office is soliciting comments regarding specific steps that a user should take to demonstrate she has made a good faith, reasonable search. The Office also solicits comments regarding the filing requirements for the user to submit a notice of noncommercial use and for a rights owner to submit a notice objecting to such use.

The Copyright Office is proposing to establish a regulation regarding its procedures for closing out royalty payments accounts under section 1005, and updating its regulations governing online payment procedures for cable, satellite, and digital audio recording technology (``DART'') statements of account to no longer require that payments be made in a single lump sum. These amendments are intended to improve the efficiency of the Copyright Office's Licensing Division operations.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for the submission of written comments in response to its May 17, 2018 notice of proposed rulemaking regarding amendments to its regulation governing the group registration option for serials.