U.S. Copyright Office Issues Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Relating to Group Registration of Newspapers
Issue No. 688 - November 6, 2017
The Copyright Office has published a notice of proposed rulemaking to update its regulations governing group registration of newspapers. Among other things, the proposed rule will require applicants to file an online application rather than a paper application and upload a complete digital copy of each issue through the electronic registration system instead of submitting them in physical form (although applicants may additionally continue to submit their issues on microfilm on a voluntary basis if the microfilm is received by December 31, 2019). In addition, the notice explains that the Library of Congress plans to incorporate digital copies of these registration deposits into its collections and provide Library patrons with onsite access to them, subject to restrictions set forth in the proposed rule.
The Office seeks public comments on the proposed amendments, which will be considered in promulgating a final rule.
The proposed regulations and instructions on how to submit a comment are available here. Written comments must be received no later than December 6, 2017, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.