Copyright Office – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is preparing to conduct proceedings in accordance with provisions added by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which provide that the Librarian of Congress may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The purpose of this rulemaking proceeding is 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 due to the prohibition on circumvention. This notice requests written comments from all interested parties, including representatives of copyright owners, educational institutions, libraries and archives, scholars, researchers and members of the public, in order to elicit evidence on whether noninfringing uses of certain classes of works are, or are likely to be, adversely affected by this prohibition on the circumvention of measures that control access to copyrighted works.

The Copyright Office is extending the time in which comments and reply comments may be filed in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to amend its regulations to clarify the scope and application of the Section 115 compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of a musical work by means of digital phonorecord deliveries. 73 FR 40802. The Office is also announcing a hearing on the proposed rulemaking to take place on September 19, 2008.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is announcing receipt of six notices of intent to audit various eligible nonsubscription and new subscription services that transmit sound recordings under statutory licenses. The audits intend to verify statements of account for the year 2005.

The Copyright Office is making non-substantive housekeeping amendments to its regulations to update them and to correct minor errors.

The Copyright Office is amending its rules governing the payment of interest on late or underpaid royalty fees under the Copyright Act to clarify when interest for late and underpayments is due in light of the Copyright Office's electronic funds transfer requirement. In addition, the Copyright Office amends the rules to add text that was inadvertently deleted by a previous rulemaking action. The Copyright Office also makes a technical correction to its satellite carrier requirements to recognize changes made to Section 119 in 2004.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is proposing to amend its regulations governing the registration options which allow grouping of individual works to be registered using one application to require online submission for these options.

The Register of Copyrights published a document in the Federal Register of February 19, 2008, reviewing the determinations of the Copyright Royalty Judges for setting rates and terms for use of the sections 112 and 114 statutory licenses by New Subscription Services, Preexisting Subscription Services and Preexisting Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services.

The Copyright Office is proposing to make clarifications to its regulations governing the recordation of notices of termination and certain related provisions. This notice seeks public comment on the proposed amendments, which would communicate the Office's practices as to notices of termination that are untimely filed; clarify the fact that a notice of termination is not legally sufficient simply because it has been recorded; update the legibility requirements for all recorded documents, including notices of termination; make minor explanatory edits to the fee schedule for multiple titles within a document (adding notices of termination as an example); and create a new mailing address to which notices of termination should be sent.

The Library of Congress, through the Copyright Office, is announcing an upcoming royalty rate adjustment for satellite carriers based upon changes in the Consumer Price Index.

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 published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2007, an interim regulation implementing an online copyright registration system. This document makes technical corrections to that interim regulation.

The Copyright Office is extending the time in which reply comments can be filed in response to its Notice of Inquiry requesting information for the preparation of the Section 109 Report to the Congress, as required by the Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 2004.

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. Any party may file an objection to an owner's claim of specialty station status with the Copyright Office.

The Copyright Office announces a public roundtable discussion concerning the use of the statutory license to make and distribute digital phonorecords, including for a limited period, and to make phonorecords that facilitate streaming. This discussion is an adjunct to the comments filed in the current rulemaking exploring these issues. The roundtable will also address the statutory requirement to provide notice of intention to obtain the compulsory license.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is announcing receipt of a notice of intent to audit 2005 statements of account concerning the eligible nonsubscription transmissions of sound recordings made by Microsoft Corporation (``Microsoft'') under statutory licenses.

Pursuant to statute, the Copyright Office is seeking comment on issues related to the operation of, and continued necessity for, the cable and satellite statutory licenses under the Copyright Act.

The Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulations governing applications for registration of claims to the renewal term of copyright. This notice seeks public comment on the proposed amended regulations, which will take into account the fact that, since January 1, 2006, all applications for renewal have necessarily related to works which are subject to automatic renewal and, thus, are already in their renewal terms, making impossible any 28th- year registration of claims to the renewal term.

The Copyright Office is compiling a new specialty station list to identify commercial television broadcast stations which, according to their owners, qualify as specialty stations for purposes of the former distant signal carriage rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The list has been periodically updated to reflect an accurate listing of specialty stations. To that end, the Copyright Office is again requesting all interested owners of television broadcast stations that qualify as specialty stations, including those that previously filed affidavits, to submit sworn affidavits to the Copyright Office stating that the programming of their stations meets the requirements specified under the FCC regulations in effect on June 24, 1981.

The Section 108 Study Group announces a public roundtable discussion on certain issues relating to the exceptions and limitations applicable to libraries and archives under the Copyright Act, and seeks written comments on these issues. This notice (1) announces a public roundtable discussion regarding the issues identified in this notice and (2) requests written comments from all interested parties on the issues described in this notice. These issues relate primarily to making and distributing copies pursuant to requests by individual users, as well as to provision of user access to unlicensed digital works.

The Copyright Office is extending the time in which reply comments can be filed in response to its Notice of Inquiry regarding the retransmission of digital television broadcast signals by cable operators under the Copyright Act.

The Copyright Royalty Board, acting pursuant to statute, referred two novel questions of law to the Register of Copyrights. Specifically, the Copyright Royalty Board requested a decision by the Register of Copyrights regarding whether ringtones are subject to the statutory license for making and distributing phonorecords under the Copyright Act, and if so, what legal conditions and/or limitations would apply. The Register of Copyrights, in a timely fashion, transmitted a Memorandum Opinion to the Copyright Royalty Board stating, with certain caveats, that the statutory license applies to ringtones.

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 publishing an interim rule governing the correction of errors in certificates of registration of vessel hull designs. If the Office discovers a clerical or typographical error made by the Office on a certificate of registration, the Office will issue a corrected certificate. If an owner of a vessel hull design discovers a clerical or typographical error in a certificate of registration that is a result of error in the application, the owner may submit an application for correction of the certificate of registration.

The Copyright Office is seeking input on possible rules governing the reporting practices of cable operators under the Copyright Act.

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 services provided by the Office which benefit only or primarily the user of that service. The proposed fee increase for preregistration has been eliminated, and the proposed increase for group registration of photographs has been reduced to the fee for basic registration. Adjusted fees will be effective July 1, 2006. This final rule assumes that no legislative action will take place before July, 1, 2006.