Copyright Office, Library of Congress August 10, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.