[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 149 (Thursday, August 4, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44878-44879]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-15458]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Part 202

[Docket No. RM 2005-9]


Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims

AGENCY: Library of Congress, Copyright Office.

ACTION: Supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is supplementing its Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking on preregistration of copyright claims, issued July 22, 
2005. That notice proposed procedures to preregister any unpublished 
work being prepared for commercial distribution that is in a class of 
works determined by the Register of Copyrights to have had a history of 
pre-release infringement. Today's notice seeks information as to 
whether persons filing the electronic-only preregistration form 
prescribed by the Copyright Office will experience difficulties if it 
is necessary to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser in order 
to preregister a work.

DATES: Comments are due no later than August 22, 2005. Reply comments 
are due no later than September 7, 2005.

ADDRESSES: If hand delivered by a private party, an original and five 
copies of any comment should be brought to Room LM-401 of the James 
Madison Memorial Building between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and the envelope 
should be addressed as follows: Office of the General Counsel, U.S. 
Copyright Office, James Madison Memorial Building, Room LM-401, 101 
Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559-6000. If hand delivered 
by a commercial courier, an original and five copies of any comment 
must be delivered to the Congressional Courier Acceptance Site located 
at Second and D Streets, NE., Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4 
p.m. The envelope should be addressed as follows: Copyright Office 
General Counsel, Room LM-403, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 
Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC. If sent by mail, an original 
and five copies of any comment should be addressed to: Copyright GC/
I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024-0400. 
Comments may not be delivered by means of overnight delivery services 
such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service, etc., due to delays in 
processing receipt of such deliveries.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David O. Carson, General Counsel, or 
Charlotte Douglass, Principal Legal Advisor, P.O. Box 70400, 
Washington, DC 20024-0400, Telephone (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 
707-8366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Artists' Rights and 
Theft Prevention Act of 2005 (the ART Act), Title I of the Family 
Entertainment and Copyright Act, Pub. L. No. 109-9, 119 Stat. 218, the 
Copyright Office recently proposed implementing regulations for 
preregistration of eligible copyright claims. 70 FR 42286 (July 22, 
2005). To be eligible for preregistration, a work must be unpublished, 
in the process of being prepared for commercial distribution, and in a 
class of works that the Register of Copyrights determines has had a 
history of copyright infringement.
    Section 104 of the ART Act directs that preregistration procedures 
must be in place by October 24, 2005. 17 U.S.C. 408(f)(1). To comply 
with this time frame and to facilitate efficient processing of 
preregistration claims, inter alia, the proposed rule calls for filing 
such claims by electronic means only. At this point in the process of

[[Page 44879]]

developing the Copyright Office's system for online preregistration, it 
is not entirely clear whether the system will be compatible with web 
browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and 
higher. Filers of preregistration applications will be able to employ 
these Internet Explorer browsers successfully. Support for Netscape 
7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, and Mozilla 1.7.7 is planned but will not be 
available when preregistration goes into effect. Present users of these 
browsers may experience problems when filing claims.
    In order to ensure that preregistration can be implemented in a 
smoothly functioning and timely manner, the Office now seeks comments 
that will assist it in determining whether any eligible parties will be 
prevented from preregistering a claim due to browser requirements of 
the preregistration system. Therefore, this notice seeks information 
whether any potential preregistration filers would have difficulties 
using Internet Explorer (version 5.1 or higher) to file preregistration 
claims, and if so, why. More generally, in the interest of achieving 
support for browsers in the Office's preregistration processing 
environment, this notice inquires whether (and why) an eligible party 
who anticipates preregistering a claim on the electronic-only form will 
not be able to use Internet Explorer to do so, or will choose not to 
preregister if it is necessary to use Internet Explorer.
    The Office requests that responses to this supplemental notice of 
inquiry be made part of the responders' comments on the July 22nd 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. Whether or not accompanied by comments 
on the proposed rule, the response to this notice of inquiry should be 
submitted by the due dates for comment on the Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking, i.e., no later than August 22, 2005, with reply comments 
due no later than September 7, 2005.

    Dated: August 1, 2005.
Tanya Sandros,
Associate General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 05-15458 Filed 8-3-05; 8:45 am]
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