The U.S. Copyright Office today published three notices of proposed rulemaking
Issue No. 643 - December 1, 2016


The U.S. Copyright Office today published three notices of proposed rulemaking, which are summarized below.

Supplementary Registration: The U.S. Copyright Office is seeking public comments on proposed amendments to its regulation governing supplementary registration. Under the proposed rule, most applicants will be required to submit an online application in order to correct or amplify the information set forth in a basic registration. In addition, the proposed rule will update and codify certain practices that are set forth in the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition, and improve the readability of the regulation. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and instructions on how to submit a comment in this proceeding are available here.


Group Registration of Photographs: The Office is seeking public comments on proposed amendments to its regulation governing the group registration option for published photographs. In addition, the Office is proposing to create a new group registration option for unpublished photographs. Under the proposed rule, applicants will be required to submit an online application and will be allowed to include up to 750 photographs in each submission. The proposed rule will amend the deposit requirement for photographs and photographic databases by requiring applicants to submit their works in digital form. Finally, it will memorialize the Office’s longstanding position regarding the scope of a group registration of photographs. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and instructions on how to submit a comment in this proceeding are available here.


Group Registration of Contributions to Periodicals: The Office is seeking public comments on proposed amendments to its regulation governing the group registration option for contributions to periodicals. Under the proposed rule, applicants will be required to file their claims through the electronic registration system and upload their contributions in a digital format. The proposed rule will modify some of the eligibility requirements for this group option. It will confirm that the Office may refuse registration or cancel a group registration if these requirements have not been met. And it will memorialize the Office’s longstanding position regarding the scope of a group registration for contributions to periodicals. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and instructions on how to submit a comment in this proceeding are available here.


Written comments must be received no later than January 3, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.