[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 80743-80745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22907]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Parts 201 and 229
[Docket No. 2024-5]
Copyright Claims Board: Final Determination Certification
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 adjusting
the process and fee to obtain a certified final determination from the
Copyright Claims Board.
DATES: This rule is effective October 4, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhea Efthimiadis, Assistant to the
General Counsel, by email at [email protected] or telephone at 202-
707-8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims
Enforcement Act of 2020 (the ``CASE Act'') directed the Copyright
Office to establish the Copyright Claims Board (the ``CCB''), an
alternative and voluntary forum for parties seeking to
[[Page 80744]]
resolve certain copyright-related disputes that have a total monetary
value of $30,000 or less. On May 17, 2022, the Copyright Office
published a final rule addressing various topics governing the CCB,
including how to obtain a certified official record of a CCB proceeding
(the ``May 17 Rule'').\1\ The Office needed to promulgate a rule
governing such requests due to the CASE Act's requirements for Federal
court enforcement of the CCB's final determinations. Under the CASE
Act, in situations where the non-prevailing party fails to comply with
the final determination issued by the CCB in a proceeding, the
prevailing party may ``apply to [an appropriate U.S. district court]
for an order confirming the relief awarded in the final determination
and reducing such award to judgment.'' \2\ Any such application to a
Federal district court must include a ``certified copy of the final or
amended final determination of the [CCB], as reflected in the records
of the [CCB].'' \3\
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\1\ 87 FR 30060 (May 17, 2022).
\2\ 17 U.S.C. 1508(a).
\3\ Id. at 1508(b)(2)(A).
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The May 17 Rule stated that the CCB will certify the official
record of a proceeding ``[u]pon a written request to the Records
Research and Certification Section [(``RRC'')] of the U.S. Copyright
Office . . . and payment of the appropriate fee.'' \4\ Pursuant to this
rule, the Office's general process and fees for the retrieval, copying,
and certification of Office records are applied to requests for a
certified official record of a final CCB determination. The Office's
combined fees for retrieval, copying, and certification, however, are
likely to result in an amount that is more than the cost of initiating
a proceeding before the CCB.\5\
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\4\ 87 FR 30060, 30089.
\5\ See 37 CFR 201.3(c)(19) (identifying certification fee as
$200 per hour); id. at 201.3(c)(22)(ii) (identifying retrieval of
digital records fee as $200 per hour, with a half hour minimum); id.
at 201.3(d)(6) (identifying copying of Office records fee as $12);
see also id. at 201.3(g)(1) (identifying $100 fee to initiate a
Board proceeding).
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This final rule creates a different process and fee for retrieving,
copying, and certifying CCB determinations. Instead of making such
certification requests to RRC, the final rule makes the CCB itself
responsible for handling these requests.\6\ Further, to better reflect
the statutory requirement that the ``final determination'' is the
required documentation that must be submitted to a Federal district
court to confirm the CCB award,\7\ the rule reflects that only the
final or amended final determination must be certified and not the
entire record. Finally, the Office believes that until it engages in a
fee study,\8\ it is reasonable to set the new fee at $15--a fee very
similar to what it charges for copying records.\9\ This lower fee is
reasonable because, in contrast to the challenges of locating and
certifying other Office records, the CCB's records are located on a
dedicated electronic filing and case management platform (known as
``eCCB'') where they can be quickly retrieved for certification.
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\6\ The Board is comprised of three Copyright Claims Officers,
whose duties include ``certify[ing] official records of [the
Board's] proceedings.'' 17 U.S.C. 1502(b)(1), 1503(a)(1)(I).
\7\ Id. at 1508(a), (b)(2)(A).
\8\ The Register periodically engages in a statutorily required
study of the costs incurred by the Office for providing various
services and provides the public notice of any proposed changes in
the Office's fees and the opportunity for public comment. See id. at
708(b).
\9\ 37 CFR 201.3(d)(6).
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The Office is aware that there already may be circumstances where
the CCB has issued a final determination, and a non-prevailing party
has failed to pay damages (or has failed otherwise to comply with the
relief awarded in the Board's final determination) in a timely manner.
While prevailing parties could pay the currently applicable fee for
records retrieval and certification, consistent with the goals of a
small-claims tribunal to be affordable and efficient, it is appropriate
to provide such parties immediate relief from paying these higher costs
and streamlining the process to make such requests. For these reasons,
the Office finds good cause to issue a direct final rule in this
proceeding without first engaging in a public notice and comment
process.\10\ Similarly, the Office finds that engaging in a notice and
comment procedure would effectively unduly delay relief to prevailing
parties in CCB proceedings and therefore finds good cause exists to
issue these regulations as a final rule with an immediate effective
date.\11\
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\10\ 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
\11\ Id. at 553(d).
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List of Subjects
37 CFR Part 201
Copyright, General provisions.
37 CFR Part 229
Claims, Copyright.
Final Regulations
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the U.S. Copyright Office
amends chapter II, subchapters A and B, of title 37 Code of Federal
Regulations, to read as follows:
Subchapter A--Copyright Office and Procedures
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
1. The general authority citation for part 201 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
0
2. In Sec. 201.3, in table 4 to paragraph (g), add paragraph (g)(4) to
read as follows:
Sec. 201.3 Fees for registration, recordation, and related services,
special services, and services performed by the Licensing Section and
the Copyright Claims Board.
* * * * *
(g) * * *
Table 4 to Paragraph (g)
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Copyright Claims Board fees Fees ($)
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* * * * * * *
(4) Filing fee for the Copyright Claims Board to 15
retrieve, copy, and certify the official final
determination or amended final determination of a
proceeding (per record item)...........................
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[[Page 80745]]
Subchapter B--Copyright Claims Board and Procedures
PART 229--RECORDS AND PUBLICATION
0
3. The authority citation for part 229 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702, 1510.
0
4. Revise Sec. 229.2 to read as follows:
Sec. 229.2 Final determination certification.
Upon a party's written request to the Board and payment of the
appropriate fee pursuant to 37 CFR 201.3, the Board will provide a
certified copy of a proceeding's final or amended final determination.
A party who wishes to engage in this service should contact the Board
for further instructions on how to make this request.
Dated: September 26, 2024.
Shira Perlmutter,
Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Approved by:
Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2024-22907 Filed 10-3-24; 8:45 am]
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