DMCA Designated Agent Post Office Box Waiver Request Process
| Published date | 27 February 2020 |
| Citation | 85 FR 11294 |
| Record Number | 2020-03260 |
| Section | Rules and Regulations |
| Court | Copyright Office,Library Of Congress |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 39 (Thursday, February 27, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11294-11295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03260]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
[Docket No. 2020-3]
DMCA Designated Agent Post Office Box Waiver Request Process
AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rule makes non-substantive technical amendments to
the U.S. Copyright Office's regulations governing the submission of
designated agent and service provider information to the Office
pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'').
DATES: Effective February 27, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and
Associate Register of Copyrights, by email at [email protected], or
Mark Gray, Attorney-Advisor, by email at [email protected]. Each can
be contacted by telephone by calling (202) 707-8350.
[[Page 11295]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Effective December 1, 2016, the Copyright
Office adopted regulations governing the submission of designated agent
and service provider information to the Office pursuant to the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'') in connection with the
implementation of an electronic registration system launched the same
day.\1\ Under that rule, service providers must provide their physical
street address and may not provide a post office box absent
``exceptional circumstances (e.g., where there is a demonstrable threat
to an individual's personal safety or security, such that it may be
dangerous to publicly publish a street address where such individual
can be located).'' \2\ Service providers seeking to provide a post
office box as their address are required to first obtain a waiver of
the street address requirement from the Copyright Office. To request a
waiver, a service provider ``must send a signed letter, addressed to
the [Office],'' that contains, among other things, ``a detailed
statement providing the reasons supporting the request, with
explanation of the specific threat(s) to an individual's personal
safety or security.'' \3\ Upon receipt, the Office evaluates these
requests to determine whether the circumstances warrant a waiver.
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\1\ 81 FR 75695 (Nov. 1, 2016). Technical amendments to these
regulations were subsequently adopted, effective May 10, 2017. 82 FR
21696 (May 10, 2017).
\2\ 37 CFR 201.38(b)(1)(i)-(ii).
\3\ 37 CFR 201.38(b)(1)(ii).
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Based on its experience administering the current waiver system,
the Office has determined that it is unnecessary to require that waiver
requests be sent by mail, and that also permitting electronic requests
to be sent via email would be beneficial both to service providers and
the Office. Moreover, it would further the goals of the designation
regulations. Because waiver requests must be approved in advanced of
being able to designate an agent, the amount of time that passes
between the service provider submitting its request and the Office
receiving and acting on the request can impact the service provider's
safe harbor protection under 17 U.S.C. 512. Thus, it is in everyone's
best interest that the Office receive these requests as quickly as
possible. Not only is email a much faster and more efficient method of
delivery than ordinary mail, but because of the Office's physical
location within the U.S. Capitol Complex, all mail, including waiver
requests, undergo mandatory off-site security screening and
decontamination before arriving at the Offices, which can further delay
delivery beyond what a service provider might normally anticipate.
Because this rule only adds an additional, optional method by which
a request for a waiver may be submitted to the Office, this final rule
is a non-substantive, procedural change not ``alter[ing] the rights or
interests of parties,'' and thus is not subject to the notice and
comment requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.\4\
Furthermore, the Office finds good cause that permitting notice and
comment would be ``contrary to the public interest'' in this
instance.\5\ Because this final rule will make it even easier and
faster for service providers to seek waivers, it is in the public's
best interest that it take effect without delay. For these same
reasons, the Office is making this final rule effective immediately
upon publication in the Federal Register.\6\
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\4\ See Nat'l Mining Ass'n v. McCarthy, 758 F.3d 243, 250 (D.C.
Cir. 2014) (``The critical feature of a procedural rule is that it
covers agency actions that do not themselves alter the rights or
interests of parties, although it may alter the manner in which the
parties present themselves or their viewpoints to the agency.'')
(internal quotation marks omitted); 5 U.S.C. 553(b) (notice and
comment not required for ``interpretative rules, general statements
of policy, or rules of agency organization, procedure, or
practice'').
\5\ See 5 U.S.C. 553(b) (notice and comment not required ``when
the agency for good cause finds . . . that notice and public
procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the
public interest'').
\6\ See id. at 553(d) (``The required publication or service of
a substantive rule shall be made not less than 30 days before its
effective date, except--(1) a substantive rule which grants or
recognizes an exemption or relieves a restriction; (2)
interpretative rules and statements of policy; or (3) as otherwise
provided by the agency for good cause found and published with the
rule.'').
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List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 201
Copyright, General provisions.
Final Regulations
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
amends 37 CFR part 201 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. 201.38 as follows:
0
a. Revise paragraph (b)(1)(ii) to read as follows:
Sec. 201.38 Designation of agent to receive notification of claimed
infringement.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(1) * * *
(ii) A post office box may not be substituted for the street
address for the service provider, except in exceptional circumstances
(e.g., where there is a demonstrable threat to an individual's personal
safety or security, such that it may be dangerous to publicly publish a
street address where such individual can be located) and, upon written
request by the service provider, the Register of Copyrights determines
that the circumstances warrant a waiver of this requirement. To obtain
a waiver, the service provider must make a written request submitted
either by email, to [email protected], or by signed letter,
addressed to the ``U.S. Copyright Office, Office of the General
Counsel'' and sent to the address for time-sensitive requests set forth
in Sec. 201.1(c)(1). Requests must contain the following information:
The name of the service provider; the post office box address that the
service provider wishes to use; a detailed statement providing the
reasons supporting the request, with explanation of the specific
threat(s) to an individual's personal safety or security; and an email
address for any responsive correspondence from the Office. There is no
fee associated with making this request. If the request is approved,
the service provider may display the post office box address on its
website and will receive instructions from the Office as to how to
complete the Office's electronic registration process.
Dated: February 10, 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. 2020-03260 Filed 2-26-20; 8:45 am]
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