Proposed Rule2023-18664
Access to Electronic Works
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 1, 2023
Issuing agencies
Library of CongressCopyright Office, Library of Congress
Abstract
The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to update its regulation governing electronic deposits of published works submitted to the Office that have been selected for addition to the collections of the Library of Congress. The current regulation permits the Library to collect and provide limited on-site access to groups of newspapers electronically submitted for registration, as well as electronic serials and books submitted for mandatory deposit. The proposed rule expands the categories of electronic deposits covered by the regulation with the same limitations on access as are currently in place. The proposed changes are part of ongoing steps by the Library and the Office to encourage the submission of works in electronic form and reduce the need for copyright owners to deposit physical copies.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 169 (Friday, September 1, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 169 (Friday, September 1, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60413-60417]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18664]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 202
[Docket No. 2023-3]
Access to Electronic Works
AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a notice of proposed
rulemaking to update its regulation governing electronic deposits of
published works submitted to the Office that have been selected for
addition to the collections of the Library of Congress. The current
regulation permits the Library to collect and provide limited on-site
access to groups of newspapers electronically submitted for
registration, as well as electronic serials and books submitted for
mandatory deposit. The proposed rule expands the categories of
electronic deposits covered by the regulation with the same limitations
on access as are currently in place. The proposed changes are part of
ongoing steps by the Library and the Office to encourage the submission
of works in electronic form and reduce the need for copyright owners to
deposit physical copies.
DATES: Written comments must be received by no later than 11:59 p.m.
Eastern Time on October 2, 2023. Reply written comments must be
received no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 16, 2023.
ADDRESSES: For reasons of government efficiency, the Copyright Office
is using the <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> system for the submission and posting of
public comments in this proceeding. All comments are therefore to be
submitted electronically through <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. Specific instructions
for submitting comments are available on the Copyright Office website
at <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/edeposit-access">https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/edeposit-access</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhea Efthimiadis, Assistant to the
General Counsel, by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7f121a190b3f1c100f060d1618170b51181009"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="177a727163577478676e657e707f6339707861">[email protected]</span></a> or telephone at 202-
707-8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Copyright Act provides two sources of materials that can be
selected by the Library of Congress for its collections. The first is
the ``mandatory deposit'' requirement set forth in section 407 of title
17. Under section 407, owners of copyright-protected works published in
the United States must generally deposit two complete copies of the
best edition of the work ``for the use or disposition of the Library of
Congress.'' \1\ ``The `best edition' of a work'' is defined as ``the
edition, published in the United States at any time before the date of
deposit, that the Library of Congress determines to be most suitable
for its purposes.'' \2\ The Office's regulations, including Sec.
202.19 and Appendix B of part 202, set forth rules and criteria for the
different types of works subject to mandatory deposit.
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\1\ 17 U.S.C. 407, 407(b).
\2\ Id. at 101.
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The second source of materials is section 408, which requires
applicants seeking to register the copyright in published works to
provide the Office with ``two complete copies or phonorecords of the
best edition.'' \3\ To avoid the duplication of deposits, section 408
specifies that copies or phonorecords deposited under section 407 ``may
be used to satisfy the deposit provisions'' of section 408 if they
``are accompanied by the prescribed application and fee.'' \4\
Registration deposits are ``available to the Library of Congress for
its collections,'' and items not selected by the Library are retained
by the Office for a period of time.\5\
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\3\ Id. at 408(b)(2). Section 408(b) also sets out the deposit
requirements for the registration of unpublished works (id. at
408(b)(1)), works first published outside of the United States (id.
at 408(b)(3)), and contributions to collective works (id. at
408(b)(4)).
\4\ Id. at 408(b). Although section 408 states that copies
deposited pursuant to the mandatory deposit provision in section 407
may be used to satisfy the registration deposit requirement in
section 408, in practice, the Office treats copies of works
submitted for registration as satisfying the mandatory deposit
requirement (assuming the deposit requirements are the same), and
not vice versa. 37 CFR 202.19(f)(1), 202.20(e); see Registration of
Claims to Copyright Deposit Requirements, 43 FR 763, 768 (Jan. 4,
1978).
\5\ 17 U.S.C. 704(b), 704(d). Deposits of works submitted under
either sections 407 and 408 are ``property of the United States
Government'' and can be used by the Library for its collections. Id.
at 704(a), 704(b).
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Both sections 407 and 408 grant the Register of Copyrights broad
regulatory authority to specify the nature of the
[[Page 60414]]
required deposits, including the ability to exempt certain works from
the deposit requirements.\6\ Using this authority, the Register has
permitted the deposit of only one copy instead of two for certain
classes of works submitted for registration.\7\ Similarly, the Register
has issued regulations exempting specific categories of works from the
mandatory deposit requirements.\8\
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\6\ Id. at 407(c); id. at 408(c)(1).
\7\ 37 CFR 202.20(c)(2)(i).
\8\ Id. Sec. 202.19(c) (listing ``categories of material [that]
are exempt from the deposit requirements of section 407'').
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The Office also has used its regulatory power in sections 407 and
408 to accommodate the submission of electronic deposits instead of
physical deposits in certain cases. With respect to section 407, the
Office issued an interim rule in 2010 generally exempting electronic
works that are ``available only online'' from the mandatory deposit
requirement, with a limited exception for electronic-only serials.\9\
The Office revised this rule in 2020 to require the mandatory deposit
of electronic-only books in response to an affirmative demand under
section 407(d).\10\ To date, the Office's regulations for registration
deposits have generally required or preferred the deposit of physical
copies. Recently, however, the Office created new flexible registration
options across a number of categories that either permit or require the
submission of electronic copies depending on the work.\11\ For example,
in 2018, the Office issued a final rule with respect to the group
registration of newspaper issues, which states that deposits ``must be
submitted in a digital form.'' \12\
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\9\ Mandatory Deposit of Published Electronic Works Available
Only Online, 75 FR 3863, 3869 (Jan. 25, 2010); 37 CFR 202.19(c)(5).
The interim rule codified the Office's preexisting practice of not
demanding copies of electronic-only works such as website content.
See Mandatory Deposit of Electronic Books and Sound Recordings
Available Only Online, 81 FR 30505, 30506 (May 17, 2016). Under the
interim rule and current regulations, copyright owners are not
obligated to deposit electronic-serials unless and until the Office
affirmatively makes a demand. See 37 CFR 202.24(a).
\10\ Mandatory Deposit of Electronic-Only Books, 85 FR 71834
(Nov. 12, 2020).
\11\ See, e.g., Group Registration of Contributions to
Periodicals, 82 FR 29410 (June 29, 2017); Group Registration of
Photographs, 83 FR 2542 (Jan. 18, 2018); Group Registration of
Newspapers, 83 FR 4144, 4146 (Jan. 30, 2018); Group Registration of
Serials, 84 FR 60918 (Nov. 12, 2019); Group Registration of
Newsletters, 85 FR 31981 (May 28, 2020); Group Registration of Short
Online Literary Works, 85 FR 37341 (June 22, 2020); Liberalizing the
Deposit Requirements for Registering a Single Issue of a Serial
Publication, 87 FR 43744 (July 22, 2022).
\12\ 37 CFR 202.4(e)(6)(ii) (for group newspaper deposits,
``[t]he issues must be submitted in a digital form, and each issue
must be contained in a separate electronic file'').
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Under its current regulation, the Office places strict limits on
access to electronic deposits selected by the Library of Congress for
its collections.\13\ Electronic deposits received by the Library from
the Office can only be accessed by specific authorized users at limited
locations, and only two such users may access a particular deposit at a
time. ``Authorized users'' are defined as (i) Members of the U.S. House
of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, as well as their officers and
staff, (ii) the Library of Congress's staff and contractors, and (iii)
registered researchers who are authorized to use the Library of
Congress's public reading rooms and the collections that are accessible
there.\14\ Authorized users may access the Library's electronic
collections only on the Library's premises at terminals connected to a
secure network.\15\ The only exception to the on-site requirement is
for Library staff, who are permitted to access electronic deposits
``off-site as part of their assigned duties via a secure connection.''
\16\ These limitations on access would not be changed by the proposed
rule.
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\13\ Id. Sec. 202.18.
\14\ Id. Sec. 202.18(d). The process for becoming a registered
researcher is available at <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/readerregistration.html">https://www.loc.gov/rr/readerregistration.html</a>.
\15\ Id. Sec. 202.18(b); id. Sec. 202.18(d) (``Authorized
user' means Library of Congress staff, contractors, and registered
researchers, and Members, staff and officers of the U.S. House of
Representatives and the U.S. Senate for the purposes of this
section.'').
\16\ Id. Sec. 202.18(a).
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Although the Copyright Act provides that the Library may select any
deposit received by the Office, current regulations authorize the
Library's acquisition of only two types of electronic deposits: those
received through mandatory deposit pursuant to section 407 and those
submitted for group registrations of newspapers.\17\ When the
regulations were enacted, technical limitations prevented the Library
from selecting and transferring other types of electronic copies to its
collections. As a result of technical developments since that time, the
Library has systems now capable of ingesting and preserving online-only
serials deposited under section 407.\18\ In addition, technical
development of the Office's electronic registration system (``eCO'')
now provides the ability for the Library to select and transfer other
electronic deposits to its collections. The Library's selection
decisions will remain limited, however, to registration deposits for
group newspapers and mandatory deposits for eSerials and eBooks absent
amendment of the Office's regulations. The proposed rule will expand
the electronic deposits of published works that the Library can
select.\19\
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\17\ Id.
\18\ See 75 FR 3863, 3865 (explaining that ``the Library is
currently developing technological systems that will allow it to
ingest electronic works, including those available exclusively
online, and maintain them in formats suitable for long-term
preservation'').
\19\ Neither the current regulation nor the proposed changes
allow access to unpublished works in electronic form. See also 37
CFR 201.23 (governing the transfer of unpublished deposits to the
Library of Congress, requiring the Library maintain ``appropriate
safeguards against unauthorized copying or other unauthorized use of
the deposits which would be contrary to the rights of the copyright
owner'').
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As the Office reported to Congress in December 2022, the Library is
``increasing its focus on collecting works in digital form.'' \20\ The
proposed rule expands the Library's ability to select and transfer to
its collections additional categories of published works in electronic
form submitted to the Office. Accordingly, it provides the regulatory
authority necessary for the Library to meet this goal, while
maintaining the current limits on public access to the works.
Additional intended beneficiaries of the proposed rule will be those
copyright owners who wish to satisfy their deposit requirements under
sections 407 and 408 through the submission of electronic rather than
physical deposits.
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\20\ Letter from Shira Perlmutter, Reg. of Copyrights, U.S.
Copyright Office, Sen. Thom Tillis, Ranking Member, S. Comm. on the
Judiciary, Subcomm. on Intell. Prop. at 7 (Dec. 1, 2022) (``Best
Edition Study'').
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II. Proposed Rule
The Library and Office propose to expand the current regulations
governing the transfer of electronic deposits for the Library's
collections. As the Office's recent study on the best edition
requirement explained, the Library has determined that in many cases
its collections needs can be met using electronic deposits of textual
works,\21\ and it is studying other types of works for which that is
true.
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\21\ Id. at 13.
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A. The Proposed Rule's Expansion of Existing Categories
This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking updates the regulation governing
the addition of electronic copyright deposits to the Library's
collections. Specifically, the proposed rule will expand the Library's
authority to select electronic deposits of published works for addition
to its collections.\22\ This change is
[[Page 60415]]
effected by replacing the current regulatory language limiting this
authority to electronic deposits received through group newspaper
registrations and mandatory deposits with language encompassing all
published works covered by the following existing regulations:
Sec. Sec. 202.4 (d) through (g) and (i) through (k) (certain group
registrations), 202.19 (deposit of published copies or phonorecords for
the Library of Congress), 202.20 (deposit of copies and phonorecords
for copyright registration).
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\22\ The rule will not affect the Library's inability to provide
public access to unpublished electronic deposits submitted to the
Office for copyright registration.
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The proposed rule does not alter the current strict limits on
access to these works after their selection and acquisition by the
Library: electronic deposits covered by the proposed rule will be
available only to authorized users on the Library's premises via a
secure system. Library staff will continue to have authorization for
remote access, but only through a secure server and network limited to
serving the Library. In all cases, access to any individual electronic
deposit received under sections 407 and 408 will be limited to two
simultaneous authorized users.
B. The Library's Digital Collections Strategy
As part of its Digital Collections Strategy, the Library is making
a gradual shift towards an ``e-preferred'' approach, in which digital
formats will be preferred over traditional physical formats across its
major acquisitions streams, including deposits received from the
Office.\23\ Because of the increased prevalence of digital content, the
Library's plan encompasses ``all aspects of born digital collecting and
curation, end-to-end.'' \24\ This will involve policies and workflows
that support digital content acquisition and curation, developing ``an
agile technical infrastructure [to] allow for the routine and efficient
acquisition of desired digital materials,'' and establishing and
implementing appropriate methods to ``ensure that rights-restricted
digital content remains secure.'' \25\ A key component of the Library's
strategy is expanding the acquisition for its collections of digital
content deposited with the Copyright Office.\26\ But before the Library
can begin to make operational changes, it must have the legal authority
to do so. The Office's proposed regulatory amendment will further this
goal.
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\23\ U.S. Library of Congress, Digital Collections Strategy
Overview 2022-2026 at 4-5 (Oct. 2021) (``Digital Collections
Strategy''), <a href="https://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/Digital%20Collections%20Strategy%20Overview_final.pdf">https://www.loc.gov/acq/devpol/Digital%20Collections%20Strategy%20Overview_final.pdf</a>.
\24\ Id. at 1.
\25\ Id. at 1-2.
\26\ Id. at 4 (Library plans to ``[w]ork with the Copyright
Office to explore and strategically plan the possible implementation
of regulatory updates'' that help ``[e]xpand the depth and breadth
of digital content acquisition via the Copyright Office.'').
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The proposed rule is designed to offer long-term benefits to the
Library and its authorized users by expanding its collections of
digital content. By reducing the need for physical deposits, the
revised rule is also intended to benefit copyright owners. When the
Library's needs can be met with digital copies, the Office will be able
to provide additional opportunities for applicants to submit electronic
deposits with their registration materials.\27\ This will lower the
overall cost for applicants who would otherwise need to produce and
mail physical copies to the Office, and will be particularly helpful
for small businesses and independent creators who may have limited
resources.\28\
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\27\ To be clear, the Office does not plan to require applicants
to submit electronic deposits. Instead, applicants will choose
whether to submit an electronic or physical deposit. Applicants who
prefer to submit physical copies will have the ability to do so. See
Best Edition Study at 8 (Office plans to ``provide digital options
for additional types of works, although deposits in physical form
will still be permitted.'').
\28\ Best Edition Study: Notice and Request for Public Comment,
87 FR 33836, 33839 (June 3, 2022) (``[w]hile the submission of e-
copies as opposed to print copies for purposes of registration would
pose some difficulties in terms of service to Congress and other
user groups, having access to e-copies of the content will be
beneficial in the long term''); see also Best Edition Study at 5-7
(discussing Office's efforts to reduce burden on copyright owners
from compliance with the best edition requirement, particularly from
submission of physical best edition copies).
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In turn, the Office's Registration Program will benefit from the
expansion of copyright owners' ability to submit electronic deposits.
The Office spends significantly more time and resources to process
registrations with physical deposits than those with electronic
ones.\29\ The most significant reason for this disparity is the time
required to receive mailed deposits. When an application includes an
electronic deposit, the Office can typically review the registration
file as soon as it is assigned. But when an applicant mails physical
copies, it may take weeks or longer for the deposit to reach the Office
and be connected with the corresponding application.\30\ Because the
effective date of a registration is the date that the Office receives
the application, filing fee, and deposit in proper form, the delay
associated with physical deposits can cause copyright applicants to
have an effective date much later than the date they submitted an
electronic application through eCO. The proposed rule will pave the way
for the Office to increase opportunities for electronic deposits, and
will allow copyright owners to avoid the delays caused by physical
deposits and benefit from faster decisions and earlier effective dates
of registration.
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\29\ The current average processing time for registrations with
uploaded digital deposits is 1.2 months if no correspondence is
needed, or 3.3 months in cases of correspondence. Registrations with
physical deposits are much longer--an online application with a
physical deposit takes an average of 2.7 months to resolve with no
correspondence or 6.6 months with correspondence. Updated
registration processing times can be found on the Office's website
at <a href="https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf">https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf</a>.
\30\ In addition to the time consumed by mail delivery, physical
deposits consume additional resources to process. Copyright
deposits, like all material sent to the Capitol Complex, are first
redirected offsite to be screened and decontaminated for possible
pathogens. Once the deposit has been screened and delivered to the
Office, the Materials Control and Analysis Division (``MCAD'')
manually matches the deposit to the corresponding application. To
facilitate this process, applicants are supposed to include a
``shipping slip'' containing a barcode generated by eCO for tracking
purposes. But many applicants omit the shipping slip with their
deposits, requiring MCAD to correspond with the applicant, obtain
the application case number, search for the application in the
electronic registration system, and manually generate a new shipping
slip and barcode. Electronic deposits bypass all of these steps and
avoid the rare occasions where a deposit either does not reach the
Office at all or is misplaced.
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Finally, the rule will provide significant benefits to the Office's
retention and preservation of works. Currently, the Library often
acquires all physical copies of the registration deposits for its
collections, and no copies are retained by the Office. If a selected
work is subsequently needed in connection with litigation or another
records request, the Office must seek to retrieve a copy from the
Library.\31\ By contrast, digital deposits can be used by the Library
for its needs without affecting the Office's records. When a digital
copy of a work is uploaded into the electronic registration system, the
copy automatically becomes part of the Office's administrative record.
If the Library selects an electronically submitted work, the Office can
retain a digital ``record'' copy,\32\ meaning that work would remain
available for the applicable retention period as an Office
[[Page 60416]]
record.\33\ Digital copies are also easier to track, store, and
retrieve than physical copies, allowing the Office to more readily
provide a copy for use in litigation or in responding to other public
records requests.
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\31\ The Office cannot certify copies of works transferred to
the Library's collection. Its regulations provide that the Office
will make a certified copy of a registered work if it is needed for
litigation or other legitimate purposes, provided it has retained a
copy of that work. 37 CFR 201.2(d)(2). But the Office cannot issue a
certified copy of a work transferred to the Library or another
institution. See U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright
Office Practices, secs. 2405.3, 2409.5 (3d ed. 2021) (``Compendium
(Third)'').
\32\ 17 U.S.C. 704(c).
\33\ The Office retains published deposit materials for a period
of twenty years. Compendium (Third) sec. 1510.1 (``Published deposit
materials are currently stored for twenty years.''). If the Office
closes a file for a published work without issuing a registration or
refuses to register the work, the deposit materials are retained
subject to the disposition schedules set by the National Archives
and Records Administration. Id.
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Ultimately, the proposed rule will provide significant benefits by
reducing the Office's and Library's reliance on physical deposits and
their accompanying logistical challenges. In addition, it will support
the Library's strategic objective to ``[e]xpand the depth and breadth
of digital content acquisition via the Copyright Office.'' \34\
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\34\ Digital Collections Strategy at 4.
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C. Information Technology and Security Considerations
The Office recognizes that because this rule expands the Library's
authority to select and transfer to its collections electronic deposits
of published works submitted for registration, copyright owners may
have questions about the Library's information technology (``IT'')
security practices. The security of electronic deposits is a shared
priority of copyright owners, the Office, and the Library. The Library
is committed to ``the need to ensure the security of the digital
content in [its] care'' \35\ and takes careful steps to address
concerns about the protection of electronic copyright deposits.
Critically, it employs the same level of encryption to protect
copyright deposits as other highly sensitive information it holds, such
as congressional material.\36\ The Office is not aware of any security
threats to date with respect to the eSerials and eBooks that have been
submitted for mandatory deposit. In the last decade, the Library has
received tens of millions of digital files from copyright owners,\37\
and it reports that there have been no known instances of a breach in
its security or theft from its digital collections.
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\35\ Mandatory Deposit of Electronic-Only Books, 85 FR 38806,
38812, n.88 (June 29, 2020).
\36\ See id. at 38811-14 (detailed explanation of the Library's
IT security improvements and upgrades).
\37\ Best Edition Study at 18.
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The Office encourages commenters to review its recent policy study
on the best edition requirements, which addressed IT security concerns
in connection with the storage of electronic deposits.\38\ As that
study explains, the Library has invested substantially in its IT
security capacity in recent years, including centralizing IT security
under a Chief Information Officer and enacting policies and practices
to secure Library and Office data.\39\ The Library also obtains ongoing
public feedback on its practices in part through the Copyright Public
Modernization Committee (``CPMC'') and a vulnerability disclosure
program.\40\
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\38\ See id. at 16-19.
\39\ Id. at 17-18.
\40\ Id. at 19-20.
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The proposed rule's expansion of the categories of published
electronic deposits that will be available for the Library's selection,
combined with the current limits on access, will not increase the risk
that these deposits will be stolen or misused. Any electronic
registration deposits that are added to the Library's collections will
be protected by the same technical measures that currently secure 236
million electronic serials and 1.2 million e-books.\41\ These security
measures are extensive--at a recent CPMC meeting, the Library's Chief
Information Officer detailed the continuous security measures for
eDeposit material. Among other steps, the data is protected both at
rest and in transit, with over 300 IT security controls.\42\ These
controls are subject to repeated testing per the Library's continuous
monitoring schedule.\43\
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\41\ Id. at 18.
\42\ U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, CPMC Public
Meeting (Mar. 2, 2023), <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-10761/">https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-10761/</a>.
\43\ Id.
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Just as with current treatment of electronic deposits, access will
be restricted to authorized users as defined in the regulation and only
permitted on the Library's physical premises, with a narrow exception
for Library staff working offsite over a secure connection.\44\ This
limited onsite access for authorized users occurs through computer
terminals located in the Library's reading rooms.\45\ The reading room
terminals are not connected to the internet, have USB and other ports
disabled, and are under the supervision of Library staff.
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\44\ Library staff have limited offsite access to deposits ``as
part of their assigned duties via a secure connection.'' 37 CFR
202.18(a). This allows employees working remotely to fulfill work
duties but does not permit access for other purposes.
\45\ Access to Rights-Restricted Content, Library of Congress,
<a href="https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/ui/en_US/htdocs/help/eDepositAccess.html">https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/ui/en_US/htdocs/help/eDepositAccess.html</a> (Access to rights restricted content is
available on dedicated Stacks terminals located in Library reading
rooms.). While onsite, Library staff may also access these materials
through their workstations.
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The Library takes seriously its responsibilities as a steward of
the cultural works in its collections, including safeguarding deposits
received from the Office. The Office is confident that the current
security measures and practices provide robust security for electronic
deposits in the Library's collection. To the extent there remain
comments or questions about the security of deposits, the Office is
prepared to address them in the final rule.
III. Conclusion
As the Library implements its Digital Collections Strategy, it will
increase the digital works held in its collections, including through
the selection of digital deposits submitted to the Copyright Office.
The proposed rule facilitates this by providing the Library the
authority to select and transfer digital deposits for all types of
published works submitted to the Office through the registration
process. Access to these materials will remain limited and subject to
the existing regulation's restrictions. These changes will help the
Library fulfill its mission as the Nation's library and the research
arm of Congress.
The Copyright Office welcomes public feedback and seeks comments on
the regulatory amendments presented in this Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, as well as related issues discussed within.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 202
Claims, Copyright.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
proposes amending 37 CFR part 202 as follows:
PART 202--PREREGISTRATION AND REGISTRATION OF CLAIMS TO COPYRIGHT
0
1. The authority citation for part 202 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 408(f), 702.
0
2. Amend Sec. 202.18 by:
0
a. In paragraph (a), removing ``Access to electronic works received
under Sec. 202.4(e) and Sec. 202.19'' and adding in its place
``Access to published electronic works received under Sec. 202.4(d)
through (g), Sec. 202.4(i) through (k), Sec. 202.19, or Sec.
202.20'';
0
b. In paragraph (a), removing ``only to authorized users at Library of
Congress premises'' and adding in its place ``at Library of Congress
premises only to authorized users'';
0
c. In paragraph (b), removing ``Access to each individual electronic
work received under Sec. 202.4(e) and Sec. 202.19'' and adding in its
place ``Access to each individual electronic work received pursuant to
paragraph (a) of this section''; and
[[Page 60417]]
0
d. In paragraph (c), removing ``electronic works received under Sec.
202.4(e) and Sec. 202.19'' and adding in its place ``electronic works
received pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section''.
Dated: August 24, 2023.
Suzanne V. Wilson,
General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 2023-18664 Filed 8-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P
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This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.