[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 10603-10605]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02374]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Parts 201 and 205

[Docket No. 2020-1]


Email Rule for Statutory Litigation Notices

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

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule amending its 
procedures for submitting notices to the Office pursuant to sections 
411 and 508 of the Copyright Act. Previously, these notices were 
submitted by mail to two different addresses, which risked delays and 
caused unnecessary burdens for both submitters and the Office. The new 
rule will alleviate these issues by requiring these notices to be 
submitted by email.

DATES: Effective May 26, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jordana Rubel, Assistant General 
Counsel, by email at [email protected] or John R. Riley, Assistant 
General Counsel, by email at [email protected]; either can be reached 
by telephone at 202-707-8350.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background

    Under sections 411 and 508 of the Copyright Act,\1\ certain parties 
are required to notify the Register of Copyrights about copyright 
litigation. Sections 411(a) and 411(b) each define circumstances in 
which the Register of Copyrights must be notified of civil copyright 
lawsuits, to provide opportunity for he or she to participate in the 
case. Section 411(a) provides that copyright claimants who were denied 
registration by the Copyright Office for a specific work must inform 
the Register when they initiate a lawsuit alleging infringement of that 
work so that the Register may elect to become a party to the civil 
action with respect to the issue of registrability of the copyright for 
the work. Section 411(b) provides that if a party in a copyright 
infringement lawsuit alleges that a certificate of registration issued 
by the Copyright Office contains inaccurate information that was 
knowingly included in the application, then the court shall ask the

[[Page 10604]]

Register to advise whether, if the Register had known of that 
inaccuracy, he or she would have refused registration.
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    \1\ 17 U.S.C. 411, 508.
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    Section 508 of the Copyright Act requires the clerks of the courts 
of the United States to notify the Copyright Office of the names and 
addresses of the parties and the title, author, and registration number 
of each work involved in any action under title 17. The clerks must 
also, within one month after any final order or judgment is issued in 
such a case, send the Office a copy of the order or judgment and any 
written opinion. Once received, the Office must make these documents 
part of its public records.
    Currently, the Office does not have detailed regulations governing 
the submission of section 411(b) or 508 notices; the applicable 
regulation currently indicates that such submissions should be 
addressed to a post office box rather than the main Copyright Office 
mailing address.\2\ The Office has a regulation specifically governing 
section 411(a) notifications, which indicates that such documents must 
be sent by ``registered or certified mail to the General Counsel of the 
Copyright Office'' or delivered by hand.\3\
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    \2\ 37 CFR 201.1(c)(1).
    \3\ Id. at 205.13.
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    The Office recognizes that litigants and court clerks who must file 
these required statutory notices would benefit from a rule that 
requires electronically submitted documents and that would allow court 
clerks to send the required notifications through the federal courts' 
Case Management/Electronic Case Files system. Further, the Office would 
benefit from streamlined delivery of these notices, as it can be 
difficult to predict how long it will take for a mailed notice to 
actually be received, particularly given delays due to security 
screening.\4\
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    \4\ See 81 FR 62373 (Sept. 9, 2016) (noting same in mailbox rule 
for registration reconsiderations),
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    While a much smaller number of section 411(a) and (b) notices are 
received, the Office receives thousands of section 508 notices each 
year. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts created form AO-121, 
``Report on the Filing or Determination of an Action or Appeal 
Regarding a Copyright'' to assist court clerks in complying with their 
statutory duties under 17 U.S.C. 508.\5\ This form is provided to court 
clerks in Portable Document Format (``PDF'') and includes blank spaces 
in which court clerks can provide parties' names and addresses and the 
titles, authors, and registration numbers of works at issue in the 
case. In the Office's experience, some court clerks do not fill in any 
or all of the blanks on the forms they send to the Office and instead 
merely append a copy of the complaint to a blank form. The attached 
complaints, which can be lengthy, are not themselves required to be 
submitted to the Office to comply with section 508 and their presence 
increases the physical space needed to store the notices.
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    \5\ Report on the Filing or Determination of an Action or Appeal 
Regarding Copyright (Jun. 2016), https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/ao121.pdf (``Form AO-121'').
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    In late 2013, as part of a pilot project, the Copyright Office 
started permitting several judicial districts to send AO-121 forms 
electronically, as attachments to emails. The Office views this project 
as a success and has received requests from additional districts who 
wish to submit section 508 notices electronically. The Office believes 
that allowing all district courts and appellate courts to submit 
notices to the Office electronically, including through the Case 
Management/Electronic Case Files system, would simplify the submission 
process for courts and eliminate some paper record storage for the 
Office.\6\ Receiving the section 508 notices electronically will also 
make it easier for the Office to make those forms available for public 
inspection electronically. Similarly, allowing email submission of 
section 411(a) notices will benefit the public and the Office as it 
will ensure quick and easily confirmed delivery of these required 
notices.
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    \6\ The Office is working with the Administrative Office of the 
U.S. Courts to update form AO-121 and notify the court clerks of 
these new regulations and procedures for submitting notices to the 
Office.
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    The Copyright Office is publishing this amendment as a final rule 
without first publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking, as it 
constitutes a change to a ``rule[ ] of agency . . . procedure, or 
practice.'' \7\ Further, the rule does not ``alter the rights or 
interests of parties,'' but merely ``alter[s] the manner in which the 
parties present themselves or their viewpoints to the agency.'' \8\ The 
Office has worked with the Administrative Office of the United States 
Courts to create procedures for implementing service of these notices 
via email by the courts and will publicize to the general public the 
requirement to serve 411(a) notices by email.
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    \7\ 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A).
    \8\ JEM Broad. Co. v. F.C.C., 22 F.3d 320, 326 (D.C. Cir. 1994).
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List of Subjects

37 CFR Part 201

    Copyright, General provisions.

37 CFR Part 205

    Copyright, Courts.

Final Regulations

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office 
amends 37 CFR parts 201 and 205 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. Amend Sec.  201.1(c)(1) by:
0
a. Adding the words ``Notices and'' before ``Requests'' in the 
paragraph heading.
0
b. Removing ``Notices related to the filing of copyright infringement 
suits and submitted pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 411(a) and 17 U.S.C. 508; 
requests pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 411(b)(2) from district courts to the 
Register of Copyrights, all other'' and adding in its place ``Other 
than notices served on the Register of Copyrights submitted pursuant to 
17 U.S.C. 411(a), 411(b)(2), and 508, all time sensitive''.
0
c. Adding two sentences to the end of the paragraph. d ``
    The addition reads as follows:


Sec.  201.1  Communication with the Copyright Office.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (1) * * * Notices and requests served on the Register of Copyrights 
submitted pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 411(a) or 411(b)(2) should be submitted 
via email in accordance with 37 CFR 205.13 (for section 411(a) notices) 
and Sec.  205.14 (for section 411(b)(2) notices). Notices served on the 
Register of Copyrights submitted pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 508 should be 
submitted via email in accordance with 37 CFR 205.15.

PART 205--LEGAL PROCESS

0
3. The authority citation for part 205 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.


0
4. Amend Sec.  205.13 by:
0
a. Removing ``registered or certified mail''.
0
b. Removing ``at the address specified in Sec.  201.1(c)(1) of this 
chapter, or delivery by hand addressed to the General Counsel of the 
Copyright Office and delivered to the Copyright Information Section, 
U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial 
Building, Room LM-401, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC'' and 
add in its place ``to the General Counsel of the

[[Page 10605]]

Copyright Office via email to [email protected]''.
0
c. Adding ``, as an attached file,'' after ``form of a letter''.
0
d. Removing ``envelope'' and add in its place ``email's subject line''.
0
e. Adding three sentences after the phrase ``Section 411(a) Notice to 
the Register of Copyrights.'' .''
    The revisions reads as follows:


Sec.  205.13  Complaints served on the Register of Copyrights pursuant 
to 17 U.S.C. 411(a).

    * * * Attachments must be submitted in Portable Document Format 
(PDF), assembled in an orderly form, and uploaded as individual 
electronic files (i.e., not .zip files). Attachments to a single email 
should be no greater than 20 MB in total. The files must be viewable, 
contain embedded fonts, and be free from any access restrictions (such 
as those implemented through digital rights management) that prevent 
the viewing and examination of the file. If submission of a notice via 
email is not feasible, please contact the Office of the General Counsel 
by telephone during normal business hours at 202-707-8380.* * *

0
5. Add Sec.  205.14 to read as follows:


Sec.  205.14  Court requests to the Register of Copyrights pursuant to 
17 U.S.C. 411(b)(2).

    Where there is an allegation that a copyright registration 
certificate includes inaccurate information with knowledge that it was 
inaccurate and the inaccuracy of the information, if known, would have 
caused the Register of Copyrights to refuse registration, pursuant to 
17 U.S.C. 411(b)(2), the court shall request the opinion of the 
Register of Copyrights to advise the court whether the inaccurate 
information, if known, would have caused the Register of Copyrights to 
refuse registration. The request should be sent to the General Counsel 
of the Copyright Office via email to [email protected]. 
Attachments to a single email should be no greater than 20 MB in total. 
If submission of a request via email is not feasible, please contact 
the Office of the General Counsel by telephone during normal business 
hours at 202-707-8380.

0
6. Add Sec.  205.15 to read as follows:


Sec.  205.15  Court notices to the Register of Copyrights pursuant to 
17 U.S.C. 508.

    Pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 508, within one month after the filing of any 
action under title 17, notice of the names and addresses of the parties 
and the title, author, and registration number of each work involved in 
the action, including any other copyrighted work later included by 
subsequent amendment, answer, or other pleading, must be served by the 
clerk of the court on the Register of Copyrights. Further, the clerk of 
the court must notify the Register within one month after any final 
order or judgment is issued in the case, sending with the notification 
a copy of the order or judgment together with the written opinion, if 
any, of the court. These notices must be sent to the General Counsel of 
the Copyright Office via email to [email protected]. Notices 
must include a fully completed PDF version of the Administrative Office 
of the U.S. Courts' form AO-121, ``Report on the Filing or 
Determination of an Action or Appeal Regarding a Copyright,'' available 
at the U.S. Courts' website: https://www.uscourts.gov/forms/other-forms/report-filing-or-determination-action-or-appeal-regarding-copyright. If submission of a notice via email is not feasible, please 
contact the Office of the General Counsel by telephone during normal 
business hours at 202-707-8380.

    Dated: January 14, 2020.
Maria Strong,
Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office

Approved by:
Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2020-02374 Filed 2-24-20; 8:45 am]
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