Registration Modernization

In conjunction with the development of new technological infrastructure for the copyright registration system, the Copyright Office published a notice of inquiry in October 2018 seeking public input regarding potential updates to improve the system’s efficiency for both users and the Office. The Office sought and received public comment on three main areas of proposed reform: (1) the administration and substance of the application for registration, (2) the utility of the public record, and (3) the deposit requirements for registration.


In March 2020, after reviewing the comments, the Office issued a statement of policy and notice of inquiry announcing several intended practice updates to be adopted with the deployment of the new technological system. The Office will identify these updates as business needs to the Library of Congress’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, which is responsible for developing technology solutions for the Office, so they may be incorporated into the design of the new registration system to support a more user-friendly and efficient registration process that is simpler, clearer, secure, and adaptable. The intended changes include new and improved application assistance tools; simplified registration application fields for authorship, transfer, and claim limitation information; and unified case numbers, among other updates.


The Office requested comment on two proposals to permit post-registration edits to rights and permissions information and to permit voluntary submission of additional deposit information to be included in the public record.


Click here for more information about our modernization process.