Group Registration of Newspapers
| Published date | 12 November 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 60917 |
| Record Number | 2019-24450 |
| Section | Rules and Regulations |
| Court | Copyright Office,Library Of Congress |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 218 (Tuesday, November 12, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 218 (Tuesday, November 12, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 60917-60918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24450]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Parts 201 and 202
[Docket No. 2017-16]
Group Registration of Newspapers
AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule.
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[[Page 60918]]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulation governing
the group registration option for newspapers. Under the current
regulation, applicants are required to upload a complete copy of each
newspaper issue through the Office's electronic registration system.
Applicants may also submit their newspaper issues on microfilm on a
voluntary basis (in addition to and at the same time as submitting the
required digital files), provided the microfilm is received by December
31, 2019. The microfilm option expires at the end of this year;
therefore, today's final rule eliminates the reference to that option.
DATES: Effective January 1, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and
Associate Register of Copyrights, or 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 email at [email protected], [email protected], and
[email protected] or by telephone at (202) 707-8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When Congress enacted the Copyright Act of
1976 (the ``Act''), it authorized the Register of Copyrights to specify
by regulation the administrative classes of works for the purpose of
seeking a registration, and the nature of the deposits required for
each such class. In addition, Congress granted the Register the
discretion to allow groups of related works to be registered with one
application and one filing fee. See 17 U.S.C. 408(c)(1). Congress cited
``the various editions or issues of a daily newspaper'' as a specific
example of a ``group of related works'' that would be suitable for a
group registration. H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 153-54 (1976); S. Rep.
No. 94-473, at 136 (1975).
On January 30, 2018, the Copyright Office (the ``Office'') issued a
final rule amending the regulation governing the group registration
option for newspapers (``GRNP''). 83 FR 4144 (Jan. 30. 2018). The 2018
final rule modified the requirements for this group registration option
in several respects, including the deposit requirements. Applicants are
now required to upload their newspaper issues in digital form through
the Office's electronic registration system. In addition, applicants
may submit microfilm containing a complete copy of each issue on a
voluntary basis, provided the Office receives the microfilm by December
31, 2019.
The Office made these changes to improve the efficiency of the
registration system and encourage broader participation in the
registration system by reducing the burden on applicants. To that end,
the Office provided a one-year phase out period for microfilm deposits
to give publishers time to develop quality assurance testing for their
digital submissions.
These amendments went into effect on March 1, 2018. Since then, the
number of microfilm submissions has steadily declined. For example, in
March 2018 the Office received electronic deposits (without any
microfilm) for 78% of the applications submitted under this group
registration option. That number increased to 87% by the end of
December 2018. The trend continued through July 2019, where digital
deposit copies accounted for 92% of all GRNP applications. In fact,
from May through July 2019 the Office received no microfilm submissions
and compliance with the digital deposit requirement has been 100%.
The microfilm option will expire at the end of this year, and based
on the submissions received since March 2018, the Office sees no need
to extend the phase out period. Accordingly, the Office is amending its
regulations to remove the reference to the microfilm option.
Because the updates are technical and non-substantive changes that
do not ``alter the rights or interests of parties,'' they are not
subject to the notice and comment requirements of the Administrative
Procedure Act.\1\ Furthermore, the Office finds good cause that
providing notice and comment is ``unnecessary'' because the changed
requirements and phase-out period were adopted in a previous public
proceeding; this final rule merely removes related obsolete
language.\2\
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\1\ See Nat'l Mining Ass'n v. McCarthy, 758 F.3d 243, 250 (D.C.
Cir. 2014); 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'').
\2\ See 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
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List of Subjects
37 CFR Part 201
Copyright, General provisions.
37 CFR Part 202
Copyright, Preregistration and registration of claims to copyright.
Final Regulations
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
amends 37 CFR parts 201 and 202 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.
Sec. 201.1 [Amended]
0
2. Amend Sec. 201.1(c)(6) by removing ``, and newspaper microfilm
copies submitted under Sec. 202.4(e) of this chapter,''.
PART 202--PREREGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT
0
3. The authority citation for part 202 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 408(f), 702.
Sec. 202.4 [Amended]
0
4. Amend Sec. 202.4 by removing paragraph (e)(6)(ii)(B) and
redesignating paragraph (e)(6)(ii)(A) as paragraph (e)(6)(ii).
Dated: October 23, 2019.
Karyn A. Temple,
Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
Approved by:
Carla D. Hayden,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 2019-24450 Filed 11-8-19; 8:45 am]
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