[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 13, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 3698-3699]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-02186]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Part 202

[Docket No. 2017-16]


Group Registration of Newspapers

AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulation governing 
the group registration option for newspaper issues. This rule will 
eliminate the three-month deadline for submitting this type of claim. 
Based on requests received from several newspaper publishers, the 
Office has determined that there is a legitimate need to make this 
change effective immediately.

DATES: Effective February 18, 2019.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and 
Associate Register of Copyrights; Robert J. Kasunic, Associate Register 
of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy and Practice; or Erik 
Bertin, Deputy Director of Registration Policy and Practice, by 
telephone at 202-707-8040 or by email at [email protected], 
[email protected] and [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1992 the Copyright Office established a 
group registration option that allows newspaper publishers to register 
an entire month of issues with one application and one filing fee.\1\ 
Initially, applicants were required to submit a paper application and 
submit microfilm deposit copies, and they had to submit these materials 
within three months after the publication of the most recent issue in 
the group.\2\ This deadline was intended to benefit the Library of 
Congress by ensuring that newspaper issues could be added to its 
collections and made available to its patrons in a timely manner. But 
newspaper publishers often submitted their claims after the three-month 
deadline due to the high cost of producing microfilm. Many publishers 
could not afford to send their newspapers to a microfilm producer until 
they had a sufficient number of issues to justify the cost, which 
delayed the production and delivery of the microfilm.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ 57 FR 39615 (Sept. 1, 1992).
    \2\ 37 CFR 202.3(b)(6)(F) (1992).
    \3\ 82 FR 51369, 51378 (Nov. 6, 2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Last year the Office updated its regulation governing this group 
registration option.\4\ Under the current

[[Page 3699]]

rule, a publisher may register a group of newspapers if the applicant 
submits the claim using the appropriate electronic application and 
submits a PDF copy of each issue within three months after the 
publication of the earliest issue in the group.\5\ Unlike the paper 
application, the electronic registration system contains automated 
validations that enforce this three-month deadline.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ 83 FR 4144 (Jan. 30, 2018).
    \5\ 37 CFR 202.4(e). The new deadline was based on the date of 
publication for the earliest issue in the group (rather than the 
most recent) for the reasons stated in the notice of proposed 
rulemaking dated November 6, 2017. See 82 FR at 51377-78.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Since the Office implemented these new requirements, several 
newspaper publishers have reported difficulty and delays in creating 
PDF copies. Many publishers have not been able to submit their claims 
before the three-month deadline. And some publishers have attempted to 
bypass the validations in the electronic system by submitting a paper 
application and microfilm copies. The Office has refused to register 
these claims, because they were submitted on a paper form and with the 
wrong deposit, or because they were received after the deadline. On 
average, it takes three months or more to process a paper application 
and a physical deposit,\6\ so by the time the Office has issued a 
refusal, the publisher may not have an opportunity to resubmit their 
claim on the appropriate form and with an appropriate deposit.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Registration Processing Times, 
available at https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To address these problems and ensure that newspaper publishers can 
obtain the statutory benefits of registration, the Office has decided 
to eliminate the three-month filing requirement. This will provide more 
flexibility for applicants, and allow them to register issues that 
otherwise would be ineligible for registration. The Office will remove 
the automated validation that prevents publishers from submitting 
issues that are more than three months old. Beginning on February 18, 
2019, publishers will be permitted to submit claims through the 
electronic registration system, regardless of when their issues were 
published. Likewise, publishers may electronically resubmit claims that 
were refused because they were filed on a paper form or without a 
digital deposit, or because they were received after the three month 
deadline. To do so, publishers must submit a new application (using the 
electronic form designated for newspaper issues), a new digital 
deposit, and a new filing fee.
    The Office will monitor this change to the rule to determine 
whether it succeeds in incentivizing increased registrations and to 
ensure that it does not have an adverse effect on the Library's 
collections. In the meantime, the Office has prepared a video tutorial 
that provides step-by-step instructions on how to complete the 
electronic application and upload digital copies.\7\ The help text that 
accompanies the application also provides answers to frequently asked 
questions.\8\ And the Office has published a circular that provides 
detailed information about the group registration process.\9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ See Group of Newspaper Issues Tutorial, U.S. Copyright 
Office, https://www.copyright.gov/eco/newspaper.mp4.
    \8\ See Help: Group Registration of Newspaper Issues, U.S. 
Copyright Office, https://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-newspapers.html.
    \9\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 62A: Group Registration 
of Newspapers (2018), available at https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ62a.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Office still encourages publishers to submit their claims 
within three months of publication, because it may provide certain 
legal benefits. To seek statutory damages and attorney's fees in an 
infringement action, publishers must register their issues in a timely 
manner. Specifically, a publisher typically may seek these remedies if 
a newspaper issue was registered (i) before the infringement commenced 
or (ii) within three months after the first publication of that work. 
See 17 U.S.C. 412.
    The Office finds there is good cause for adopting this amendment 
without first publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking, because it is 
a ``rule[ ] of agency organization, procedure, or practice.'' \10\ It 
does not adversely ``alter the rights or interests of parties''--if 
anything, it eases the requirements for applicants choosing to exercise 
this option by removing the time restriction on its availability.\11\ 
It therefore merely ``alter[s] the manner in which the parties present 
themselves . . . to the agency.'' \12\ Id. Thus, notice and comment is 
not required under the Administrative Procedure Act.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \10\ 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A).
    \11\ JEM Broad. Co. v. FCC, 22 F.3d 320, 326 (D.C. Cir. 1994); 
see also 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1) (publication 30 days before effective 
date of substantive rule not required for rule that ``grants or 
recognizes an exemption or relieves a restriction'').
    \12\ JEM Broad. Co., 22 F.3d at 326.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    All other provisions in the current regulation on group 
registration of newspapers remain unaffected.

List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 202

    Copyright.

    For the reasons set forth above, the Copyright Office amends 37 CFR 
part 202 as follows:

PART 202--PREREGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT

0
1. The authority citation for part 202 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  17 U.S.C. 408(f), 702.


Sec.  202.4   [Amended]

0
2. Amend Sec.  202.4 by removing paragraph (e)(7).

    Dated: January 31, 2019.
Karyn A. Temple,
Acting Register of Copyrights and Director Of the U.S. Copyright 
Office.

Approved by:
Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2019-02186 Filed 2-12-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 1410-30-P