Copyright Office Releases an Updated Draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition
Issue No. 753 - March 15, 2019
Acting Register of Copyrights Karyn A. Temple today released a revised draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. This draft proposes changes to the current version of the Compendium, which was released on September 29, 2017. The public draft is available on the Office’s website at https://copyright.gov/comp3/draft.html. Comments may be submitted from March 15, 2019, to May 14, 2019.
On April 10, 2019, at 2:00 p.m., the Copyright Office will hold a webinar to review the proposed revisions and hold a Q&A session. Participants can register for the webinar here, and submit questions prior to the event to [email protected].
The Compendium is the administrative manual of the Register of Copyrights concerning the Office’s mandate and statutory duties under Title 17 of the United States Code. See 37 CFR § 201.2(b)(7). The manual has been updated to reflect the Supreme Court’s decision in Star Athletica v. Varsity Brands, 137 S. Ct. 1002 (2017). It also reflects many of the rulemakings that the Office has conducted over the past eighteen months.
The public draft also reflects a number of technical upgrades that have been made to the electronic registration system.
Finally, the Compendium has been updated to reflect certain practice changes that have been implemented by the Office of Registration Policy & Practice. Among other changes, the public draft clarifies how and when the Office will communicate with applicants, when it will attempt to correct deficiencies in the application, when it will register a claim with an annotation, and when it will refuse registration. For a full accounting of draft Compendium revisions, read more.
The Office welcomes comments on the public draft. Instructions on how to submit a comment are available here. Written comments must be received no later than May 14, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. eastern time.
See www.copyright.gov/comp3/draft.html for more information.