[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6573-6574]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-3200]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Part 201

[Docket No. RM 99-7A]


Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection 
Systems for Access Control Technologies

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Extension of initial comment period and reply comment period. 
Expansion of file formats acceptable for electronic submission of 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is extending the comment period and the 
reply comment period in the rulemaking on possible exemptions to the 
prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that 
control access to copyrighted works. The Office is also expanding the 
list of formats in which acceptable comments may be submitted 
electronically.

DATES: Written comments are due February 17, 2000. Reply comments are 
due March 20, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail should be made to 
``[email protected]''. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for file 
formats and other information about electronic filing. If delivered by 
hand, comments should be delivered to the Office of the General 
Counsel, Copyright Office, LM-403, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 
Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, DC. If delivered by mail, 
comments should be addressed to David O. Carson, General Counsel, 
Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 
20024. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for information about 
formats of submissions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David O. Carson, General Counsel, 
Charlotte Douglass, Principal Legal Advisor, or Robert Kasunic, Senior 
Attorney Advisor, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, 
Washington, DC 20024. Telephone (202) 707-8380; telefax (202) 707-8366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 24, 1999, the Copyright Office 
published a Notice of Inquiry seeking comment in connection with a 
rulemaking pursuant to section 1201(a)(1) of the Copyright Act, 17 
U.S.C. 1201(a)(1), which provides that the Librarian of Congress may 
exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against 
circumventing a technological measure that controls access to a 
copyrighted work. 64 FR 66139 (November 24, 1999). Comments were due on 
February 10, 2000; reply comments were due on March 13, 2000.
    The Office has, however, received a request for a one-week 
extension of the filing deadline for initial comments. Moreover, the 
Office has already received a number of comments submitted in 
electronic form, and a number of those comments have not met the format 
requirements for electronic submissions. The Office has, therefore, 
decided to extend the deadlines for filing of initial and reply 
comments by one week in order to accommodate the request for additional 
time and in order to provide those persons who have submitted comments 
in unacceptable formats an opportunity to correct their submissions.
    The new deadlines are: February 17, 2000 for initial comments and 
March 20, 2000 for reply comments.
    As stated in the Notice of Inquiry, the Office will be placing all 
comments and reply comments that are submitted in electronic form on 
its website (http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201). Because of this, the 
Office prefers that comments and reply comments be submitted in 
electronic form. The Office has already received a large number of 
comments in this form, and many have not been in acceptable formats. 
The Notice of Inquiry required that comments sent by e-mail must be 
sent in the form of a MIME attachment to an e-mail message, and the 
attachment must be in a single file in either (1) Adobe Portable 
Document File (PDF) format (preferred); (2) Microsoft Word Version 7.0 
or earlier; or (3) WordPerfect 7 or earlier. It also stated that 
comments may be submitted in electronic form on 3.5-inch write-
protected diskettes or in traditional written (hard copy print) form.
    The Office has received some complaints that restricting electronic 
comments to these three proprietary formats (Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word 
and WordPerfect) has created difficulties for some persons who wish to 
submit comments electronically. The Office is, therefore, expanding the 
list of acceptable formats for comments in electronic form. If 
submitted by e-mail, such comments must still be submitted as MIME file 
attachments to e-mail messages. Whether submitted by e-mail or on 
diskettes, comments may also be submitted in ASCII text file format or 
RTF (Rich Text File) format.
    Concern has also been expressed about the requirement that comments 
include not only the name of the person making the submission, but also 
the submitter's mailing address, telephone number, telefax number and 
e-mail address. All comments submitted in electronic form will be 
posted on the Office's website, and some persons making comments may 
prefer that such personal information not be made available on the 
Internet. The Office is, therefore, amending the requirements relating 
to identifying information that must be included in a comment. At the 
same time it is affirming that the filer's name must be on a comment. 
Persons submitting electronic comments in electronic form must also 
include, in the e-mail message to which the comment is attached or in a 
cover letter accompanying the diskette, all such identifying 
information. Persons submitting comments in traditional written form 
should note that the Office may post some or all of those comments on 
its website; therefore, such persons who do not wish to have such 
identifying information made available on the website should include 
that information in a separate cover letter accompanying the comments.
    The Office is amending its instructions concerning formats for 
comments as follows:
    Comments and reply comments may be submitted in electronic form, in 
one of the following formats:
    1. If by electronic mail: Send to ``[email protected]'' a message 
containing the name of the person making the submission, his or her 
title and organization (if the submission is on behalf of an 
organization), mailing address, telephone number, telefax number (if 
any) and e-mail address. The message should also identify the document 
clearly as either a comment or reply comment. The document itself must 
be sent as a MIME attachment, and must be in a single file in either: 
(1) Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) format (preferred); (2) 
Microsoft Word Version 7.0 or earlier; (3) WordPerfect 7 or earlier; 
(4) ASCII text file format; or (5) Rich Text File (RTF) format.
    2. If by regular mail or hand delivery: Send, to the appropriate 
address listed above, two copies of the comment, each on a 3.5-inch 
write-protected diskette,

[[Page 6574]]

labeled with the name of the person making the submission and, if 
applicable, his or her title and organization. Either the document 
itself or a cover letter must also include the name of the person 
making the submission, his or her title and organization (if the 
submission is on behalf of an organization), mailing address, telephone 
number, telefax number (if any) and e-mail address (if any). The 
document itself must be in a single file in either (1) Adobe Portable 
Document File (PDF) format (preferred); (2) Microsoft Word Version 7.0 
or earlier; (3) WordPerfect Version 7 or earlier; (4) ASCII text file 
format; or (5) Rich Text File (RTF) format.
    3. If by print only: Anyone who is unable to submit a comment in 
electronic form should submit an original and fifteen paper copies by 
hand or by mail to the appropriate address listed above. It may not be 
feasible for the Office to place these comments on its website.
    All written comments (in electronic or nonelectronic form) should 
contain the name of the person making the submission, his or her title 
and organization (if the submission is on behalf of an organization), 
mailing address, telephone number, telefax number (if any) and e-mail 
address (if any). All written comments must at a minimum contain the 
name of the person making the submission.
    The Office has already received some comments designated as ``reply 
comments.'' Persons submitting comments should note that a comment 
should not be designated as a ``reply comment'' unless submitted in 
response to one or more initial comments made by other persons. 
Moreover, reply comments, which are now due on March 20, 2000, should 
not be submitted until after the February 17, 2000 deadline for 
submission of initial comments.

    Dated: February 8, 2000.
David O. Carson,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 00-3200 Filed 2-9-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P