[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 130 (Thursday, July 9, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 32805-32809]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-16126]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
[Docket No. RM 2008-9]
Fees
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is publishing
a final rule establishing adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted
fees will recover a significant part of the costs to the Office of
registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many other
services provided by the Office which benefit only or primarily the
user of that service. The new fees are based on reliable information
regarding the costs of providing services, and reflect cost savings
associated with the implementation of electronic processing in the
Copyright Office in 2007. Under the new fee structure, the fee for
online registration of a basic claim will remain $35. The registration
fee for Form CO will be raised from $45 to $50 and the registration fee
for paper filings of Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE and faulty CO will be
raised from $45 to $65. In a few instances, fees have been adjusted
downward from the fees published in the notice of proposed rulemaking
in light of comments received from the public.
EFFECTIVE DATE: August 1, 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanya Sandros, Deputy General Counsel,
or Kent Dunlap, Principal Legal Advisor for the General Counsel. P.O.
Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024-0400, Telephone (202) 707-8380.
Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This final rule adjusts Copyright Office fees in accordance with
the applicable provisions of title 17, United States Code, and the
Technical Amendments Act, Pub. L. No. 105-80, 111 Stat. 1529 (1997),
codified as 17 U.S.C. 708(b). The expenses of the Copyright Office have
always been substantially funded through the charging of fees for the
services provided. Nevertheless, fees have never provided full cost
recovery for all expenditures of the Copyright Office. For the last
fifty years, cost recovery through the charging of fees has ranged
between 50% to 80% of the expenses of the Copyright Office. The current
fee adjustment is forecasted to cover approximately 60% of the
Copyright Office's expenses.
In 1997, Congress amended section 708 of the Copyright Act,
delegating to the Register of Copyrights authority to adjust fees by
regulation in accordance with a new procedure. Fees for services
specifically enumerated in sections 708(a)(1)-(9), referred to as
``statutory fees,'' are adjusted according to the procedures set forth
in section 708(b). This procedure requires the Register of Copyrights
to complete a cost study, and forward an economic report and proposed
fee schedule to Congress. The Register may implement the new rules
after 120 days unless Congress enacts a law within that period
disapproving the new fees.
The Register also has authority under the law to adopt new fees for
other services based on ``the cost of providing the service.'' 17
U.S.C. 708(a). These fees are for services not specifically enumerated
in sections 708(a)(1)-(9), and for the purpose of this rulemaking,
these fees are termed ``discretionary fees.'' As with the statutory
fees, the Copyright Office adjusts the discretionary fees after
conducting a cost study to determine the cost of providing the service
and providing the public an opportunity to comment on the proposed fee
changes.
The Copyright Office has instituted fee adjustments under the
Technical Amendments Act on four separate occasions. The first schedule
was adopted in 1999. See 63 FR 43426 (August 13, 1998) and 64 FR 29518
(June 1, 1999). Three years later a second adjustment was made raising
many copyright fees, but leaving the basic registration fee at $30. 67
FR 38003 (May 31, 2002). The third fee adjustment was adopted in 2006,
in which most statutory fees were again raised in response to an
increase in costs. At that time, the basic registration fee was
increased from $30 to $45. 71 FR 15368 (March 28, 2006) and 71 FR 31089
(June 1, 2006). The registration fee was again adjusted in 2007, at
which time the Office established a lower basic registration fee of $35
for copyright claims submitted electronically, while retaining the $45
fee for filing a paper
[[Page 32806]]
application. 72 FR 33690 (June 19, 2007). The introduction of the dual
fee structure reflected the reduced cost of processing electronic
claims and served as an incentive to the public to file claims through
the then-new online registration system.
In the 2007 adjustment proceeding lowering the fee for electronic
submission of basic copyright registration, the Office also stated that
it would likely review the registration and service fees once
electronic claim processing was operational for a sufficient period of
time so as to yield reliable information on the actual costs involved
in providing the service. The beta test of the electronic, online
registration system began in August 2007 and, in July 2008, the system
for the electronic submission of copyright claims was made available to
the general public. Also in July 2008, a new procedure was introduced
using the new Form CO - a form which must be completed on the Office
website and which, when printed out, contains 2-D barcodes that carry
the information entered on the application in digital form. In light of
the experience and lessons learned over the last 21 months, the Office
has reviewed its current practices, assessed the costs, and determined
that fee adjustments are now in order.
Proposed fee adjustment and cost study
On October 14, 2008, the Copyright Office published a notice of
proposed rulemaking setting out the proposed adjustments for both
statutory fees and discretionary fees. 73 FR 60658 (October 14, 2008).
Shortly thereafter the cost study upon which the proposed adjustments
were based was made available to the public on the Copyright Office web
site.
Among the statutory fees, the most important are those for basic
registration. In keeping with the Office's goal of encouraging online,
electronic registration, the proposed schedule of fees maintained the
$35 fee for electronic copyright registration. However, the Office
proposed a rate increase for submissions on existing paper forms, i.e.,
Forms PA, VA, SR, TX, or SE, from $45 to $65, to reflect the added cost
associated with processing the information on these forms into the
electronic system, and a slight increase to $50 from $45 for Form CO.
Group registration claims for database updates, published photographs,
and contributions to periodicals currently can only be submitted on a
paper application at this time. Hence, the fees for a group
registration were adjusted upward to the same $65 fee proposed for
filing a paper application for a single claim. When online group
registration of these classes of works becomes available, the notice of
proposed rulemaking stated that a lower fee would apply and, therefore,
the notice included all fees that would be applicable to claims in a
group registration.
In addition to the registration fees, the notice proposed changes
to other statutory fees. Specifically, the Office proposed a minimum
two hour charge for searches performed by the Records Research &
Certification Division, in addition to a further adjustment for the
rate of inflation since the last fee adjustment. It also proposed an
adjustment to the fee for the recordation of a notice of intention to
obtain a compulsory license under section 115(b). The notice proposed
increasing that fee from $12 to $105, plus an additional $20 fee for
each additional group of ten titles. And finally, the Office suggested
a reduction in the fee for supplementary registration from $115 to
$100, and in the fee for an additional certificate of registration from
$40 to $35.
For the discretionary fees, adjustments were proposed either to
recover the cost of the service or to account for inflation. For
example, Licensing Division fees were adjusted based on the cost of
providing the service. These services include the filing of an Amended
Statement of Account in accordance with sections 111, 112, 119, & 1003;
recordation of licensing agreements under section 118; and search,
certification, and copying fees. The Office also proposed an additional
charge of $30 for each group of ten domain names in addition to the
basic fee for the recordation of an interim designation of agent to
receive notification of claimed infringement under section 512(c)(2) in
order to cover the costs associated with processing a large number of
domain names.
The notice additionally stated the intention of the Copyright
Office to harmonize its refund policy. Currently, the Copyright Office
retains the filing fee for original, basic, supplementary, or renewal
registration even if the claim is rejected because the material
deposited was not copyrightable or because the claim was invalid for
any other reason, in order to cover administrative costs for handling
the claim. The Copyright Office also incurs administrative costs for
other services, e.g., processing requests for recordation services or
Licensing Division non-royalty fees, where either the request is
withdrawn, or cannot be fulfilled due to no fault of the Copyright
Office, but the Office retains no fees to cover processing costs.
However, in the notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office stated its
intention to modify the regulations to authorize the charging of an
administrative fee equivalent to the minimum fee for all services. Such
changes are adopted herein.
Comments
The Office received comments from Music Reports, Inc. (``MRI'');
Author Services, Inc.; Program Suppliers; and Professional
Photographers of America (``PPA''). Each comment addressed a different
topic. The issues raised by those submitting comments are summarized
and discussed herein.
Final Regulation
a. Adjusted fee reduced for recordation of a Notice of Intention to
Make and Distribute Phonorecords. Music Reports, Inc., a provider of
music licensing and royalty accounting services to digital music
services in the United States, opposed the change in the fee for
recording the notice of intention. It maintained that the proposed fee
of $105 was excessive and burdensome for filers who have a large number
of titles. The comment requested that the Office cap the fee for a
single filing at $20, no matter how many titles were included.
In considering the MRI comment, the Copyright Office reviewed its
cost study with respect to the recordation of a notice of intention to
make and distribute phonorecords under section 115 of the copyright
law, and determined that the cost could be reduced in the near term by
having the work involved performed by lower graded staff. With this
adjustment, it was determined that a fee of $60 per filing, plus $20
per group of ten titles would achieve full cost recovery. This
adjustment represents a significant reduction over the proposed fee of
$105 per filing. Accordingly, an adjustment in the filing fee was made
in the cost study submitted to Congress on March 15, 2009. The Office
also notes that once electronic filing for this service becomes
available, costs will likely fall, and if they do, the fee can be
reduced.
b. Adjusted fees reduced for Renewal Addendum. Author Services,
Inc., the literary agency representing the works of L. Ron Hubbard,
filed a comment opposing the contemplated increases for registration of
a renewal claim. It argued that the proposed fees for renewal
registration are too high and should be reduced. The comment expressed
the opinion that costs for renewal should have gone down because
instructions with new forms issued in October 2007
[[Page 32807]]
are more complete, thereby reducing errors in the submissions. They
believed the effect of that change was not taken into account.
The Copyright Office has reviewed the cost study with respect to
the fees relating to renewal registration, and concluded that the cost
for processing a registration of a renewal had increased to the
proposed fee of $115. However, the Office concluded that the current
fee of $220 for Renewal Addendum could cover the cost of that service.
Accordingly, the cost study did not ultimately recommend an increase in
the fee for the registration of a renewal claim with an addendum. The
fee for Renewal Addendum will remain at the current level of $220.
c. Fees for registration of groups of published photographs. The
Professional Photographers of America objected to raising the $45 fee
to $65 primarily on the ground that the Office had not, as of yet, made
such registration available online. The increase, the comment argued,
would discourage photographers from completing the registration
process. Moreover, PPA objected to the stated intention of the
Copyright Office to charge a per-title processing fee for listing
titles of individual works in an application for a collection.
The Copyright Office believes the $65 fee is appropriate for
photographers to pay in the interim period between the fee increase and
the offering of group registrations in eCO. Photographers can submit an
application for group registration encompassing hundreds of photographs
and the current $35 fee does not cover the cost of processing such a
claim. When electronic filing becomes available, claimants will be able
to register groups of published photographs for the $35 fee because of
the savings associated with the electronic registration process. As
regarding the proposed per-title fee for unpublished collections,
before the fee is implemented the public will have an opportunity to
comment on the change.
d. Fees for special services delivered by the Licensing Division.
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. filed a comment on
behalf of its member companies and other program suppliers, objecting
to the imposition of fees on program suppliers relating to the review
of cable, satellite, and Dart compulsory license records. They
contended that costs for requests from program suppliers for searches,
copying, and other services should be deducted from the general royalty
fund, rather than collected from the program suppliers who made the
requests because the costs of performing such services have already
been deducted from the royalty pools.
The Copyright Office rejects the argument of the MPAA that requests
for special services by certain program suppliers should be deducted
from the general royalty fund. Program suppliers who order special
services obviously have personal business reasons for requesting the
service, and such suppliers are the only ones who benefit from the
Copyright Office fulfilling the requests. If such requests were
deducted from the general royalty fund, all claimants to the fund would
be paying for the special requests of a few claimants. The Office
believes it apparent that program suppliers who request special
services, and are the only ones benefitting from the service, should
pay the costs of those services.
e. Faulty Form CO submission. Recent experience of the Copyright
Office in processing Form CO submissions with 2-D barcodes has revealed
common mistakes made by remitters which make it impossible to process
the information in the barcodes. The option of filing on Form CO with
2-D barcodes was implemented on July 1, 2008. The 2-D barcode captures
the data entered into Form CO and, when scanned in the Office,
populates the various fields with the digitized data, eliminating the
need for any transcription. Users who complete the Form CO on the
Copyright Office Web site, print it from the Web site, and submit it
with the fee and deposit copy or copies are charged a fee that is
higher than the online registration fee, but lower than the fee for
paper filings using the old application forms. The slightly higher
costs associated with processing Form CO as compared to the online
registration claims accounts for the price differential.
Unfortunately, three common mistakes are being made by users which
make the 2-D barcode useless and require the Office to process the
application in a similar fashion as the traditional paper forms. The
first mistake is submitting a CO application which lacks all required
barcodes. The second is submitting a CO application which is
incomplete; in this instance a statement appears on the website that
the application is incomplete and should not be submitted. The third is
adding information to the form after it has been printed. In these
three instances, the costs of processing the form is similar to the
costs of processing paper applications because the Office cannot rely
solely on the information in the 2-D barcodes, if available. Due to the
added cost to the Copyright Office, these faulty CO applications must
be handled like a paper claim and, hence, the remitter will be charged
the same $65 fee as traditional paper applications.
f. Refund policy. As indicated in the notice of proposed
rulemaking, the Copyright Office is amending regulation Sec. 201.6(c)
to harmonize its refund policy. Under the amended regulation, fees will
be retained for submission of a document found unrecordable; for
requests for preparation of a search report or for certification and
document services which are later withdrawn; or for requests for
special services of the Licensing Division which are later withdrawn,
and cannot be fulfilled due to a mistake in the submission.
g. Effective date. Congress has 120 days from March 15, 2009, to
review the proposed changes to the statutory fees submitted to Congress
on that date. If no legislation is enacted barring adoption of these
fees during that time period, the proposed fee schedule for
registration, recordation, and other related services shall be adopted,
effective August 1, 2009. The remaining fees, which are not subject to
the Congressional review process set forth in 17 U.S.C. 708 (b)(5),
shall become effective on August 1, 2009 as well.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Parts 201
Copyright, General provisions.
Final Rule
0
In consideration of the foregoing, part 201 of 37 CFR chapter II is
amended as follows:
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
1. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
0
2. Section 201.3(c), (d) and (e) are revised to read as follows:
Sec. 201.3 Fees for registration, recordation, and related services,
special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.
* * * * *
(c) Registration, recordation and related service fees. The
Copyright Office has established the following fees for these services:
[[Page 32808]]
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Registration, Recordation and Related
Services Fees
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(1) Registration of a basic claim in an
original work of authorship:
Electronic Filing......................... $35
Form-D barcode application properly 50
completed online).
Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE; and Form CO 65
without barcodes or incomplete
information, or information added after
printing (paper filing).
(2) Registration of a claim in a group of
contributions to periodicals (Form GR/CP),
published photographs, or database
updates:
Electronic filing......................... 35
Forms GR/CP, PA, SR, VA and SE (paper 65
filing).
(3) Registration of a renewal claim (Form
RE):
Claim without Addendum.................... 115
Addendum.................................. 220
(4) Registration of a claim in a group of 25
serials (Form SE/Group)(per issue, minimum
2 issues).
(5) Registration of a claim in a group of 80
daily newspapers and qualified newsletters
(Form G/DN).
(6) Registration of a claim in a restored 65
copyright (Form GATT).
(7) Preregistration of certain unpublished 115
works.
(8) Registration of a correction or 100
amplification to a claim (Form CA and Form
DC).
(9) Registration of a claim in a mask work 105
(Form MW).
(10) Registration of a claim in a vessel 220
hull (Form D/VH).
(11) Providing an additional certificate of 35
registration.
(12) Certification of other Copyright 165
Office records (per hour).
(13) Search report prepared from official 165
records (per hour) (minimum: 2 hours).
Estimate of search fee.................... 115
(14) Location and retrieval of Copyright 165
Office materials or records (per hour).
Fee for location and retrieval of 41.25
electronic records (per quarter hour)
(minimum: \1/2\ hour).
(15) Recordation of document, including a 105
Notice of Intention to Enforce (NIE)
(single title).
Additional titles (per group of 10 titles) 30
(16) Recordation of an Interim Designation 105
of Agent to Receive Notification of
Claimed Infringement under Sec.
512(c)(2) (single name).
Additional domain names (per group of 10). 30
(17) Recordation of a Notice of Intention 60
to Make and Distribute Phonorecords (17
U.S.C. 115) (single title).
Additional titles (per group of 10)....... 20
(18) Issuance of a receipt for Sec. 407 30
deposit.
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(d) Special Service Fees. The Copyright Office has established the
following fees for special services:
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Special Services Fees
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(1) Service charge for deposit account $165
overdraft.
(2) Service charge for dishonored deposit 85
account replenishment check.
(3) Service charge for an uncollectible or 25
non-negotiable check.
(4) Appeals:
(i) First appeal........................... 250
Additional claim in related group.......... 25
(ii) Second appeal......................... 500
Additional claim in related group.......... 25
(5) Secure test processing charge (per hour) 165
(6) Copying of Copyright Office records by
staff:
Photocopy (b&w, 8\1/2\ x 11) (per page, 0.50
minimum $12).
Photocopy (b&w, 11 x 17) (per page, minimum 1
$12).
Photocopy (color, 8\1/2\ x 11) (per page, 2
minimum $12).
Photocopy (color, 11 x 17) (per page, 4
minimum $12).
Photograph (Polaroid)...................... 15
Photograph (digital)....................... 45
Slide...................................... 3
Audiocassette (first 30 minutes)........... 75
Additional 15 minute increments............ 20
Videocassette (first 30 minutes)........... 75
Additional 15 minute increments............ 25
CD or DVD.................................. 100
Zip or floppy disk......................... 100
(7) Special handling fee for a claim........ 760
Additional fee for each claim using the 50
same deposit.
(8) Special handling fee for recordation of 480
a document.
(9) Handling fee of extra deposit copy for 45
certification.
(10) Full-term retention of a published 470
deposit.
(11) Expedited search report service (per 445
hour) (minimum 2 hours).
(12) Expedited location and retrieval, 265
certification, and copying services
(surcharge, per hour).
(13) Notice to Libraries and Archives....... 50
Each additional title...................... 20
(14) Service charge for Federal Express 40
mailing.
[[Page 32809]]
(15) Service charge for delivery of 1
documents via facsimile (per page, 7 page
maximum).
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(e) Licensing Division service fees. The Copyright Office has
established the following fees for certain services performed by the
Licensing Division:
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Licensing Division Services Fees
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(1) Recordation of a Notice of Intention to $60
Make and Distribute Phonorecords (17 U.S.C.
115) (single title).
Additional titles (per group of 10)........ 20
(2) Recordation of a licensing agreement for 140
use of certain works in connection with
noncommercial broadcasting (17 U.S.C. 118).
(3) Recordation of certain contracts by 50
cable TV systems located outside the 48
contiguous states.
(4) Amendment to Statement of Account filed 100
pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 111, 119 or 1003).
(5)Notice of Digital Transmission of Sound 25
Recording (17 U.S.C. 112 and 114).
Amended Notice of Digital Transmission of 25
Sound Recording.
(6) Photocopy of record by staff (b&w) (per 0.50
page) (minimum $12).
(7) Search and report services (per hour)... 165
(8) Certification of search report (per 165
hour).
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0
3. Amend Sec. 201.6 by revising paragraph (c) to read as follows:
Sec. 201.6 Payment and refund of Copyright Office fees
* * * * *
(c) Refunds. (1) Money remitted to the Copyright Office for basic,
supplementary or renewal registration, including mask works and vessel
hulls, will not be refunded if the claim is rejected because the
material deposited does not constitute copyrightable subject matter or
because the claim is invalid for any other reason. Payments made by
mistake or in excess of the fee will be refunded, but amounts of $50 or
less will not be refunded unless specifically requested, and refunds of
less than $2 may be made in postage stamps. Except for services
specified in paragraphs (c)(2) and (3) of this section, before making
any refund for fees remitted in relation to non-registration copyright
services, the Copyright Office shall deduct an administrative
processing fee in an amount equivalent to one hour of the requested
service, or the minimum charge for the service.
(2) In instances where money has been remitted to pay for
recordation of a document, and it is determined that the document
cannot be recorded, the basic recordation fee covering one title will
be retained as a filing fee. Any additional money over the basic fee
for one title will be refunded, but amounts of $50 or less will not be
refunded unless specifically requested, and refunds of less than $2 may
be made in postage stamps.
(3) For services where fees are calculated on an hourly basis, such
as preparation of a search report, certification of certain Copyright
Office records, or location and retrieval of records, in instances
where the request is withdrawn before work is begun by the staff member
responsible for providing the service, the Copyright Office will retain
half of the hourly charge for administrative expenses, and refund the
remaining portion of the fee subject to paragraph (c)(1) of this
section. In addition, the fee for an estimate of a search fee is non-
refundable. This policy applies to requests to the Records, Research
and Certification Section, and requests to the Licensing Division.
* * * * *
Dated: June 25, 2009.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
Approved by:
James H. Billington,
The Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. E9-16126 Filed 7-8-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-S