Special Handling Fee to Be Suspended for Claims Pending over Six Months When Registration Is Needed for Litigation Purposes
Issue No. 375 - August 10, 2009
The Copyright Office 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. 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, which is in addition to the regular fee for an application to register a copyright claim, will not be assessed for conversion of a pending application to special handling status when the application has been pending for more than six months without any action by the Copyright Office 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. This interim rule is effective on August 10, 2009, and will expire on July 1, 2011. For further information, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov. (Read more.)