Email Rule for Statutory Litigation Notices
| Citation | 85 FR 10603 |
| Record Number | 2020-02374 |
| Published date | 25 February 2020 |
| Section | Rules and Regulations |
| Court | Copyright Office,Library Of Congress |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)
[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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