37 CFR 201.23 - Transfer of unpublished copyright deposits to the Library of Congress.

The Copyright Office is amending its regulations for filing Notices of Intention to obtain a Section 115 compulsory license with the Copyright Office to provide an option for electronically filing notices. By law, such notices may be filed in the Office only when the public records of the Copyright Office do not identify the copyright owner of the musical work and include an address at which notice can be served. In addition, the Copyright Office is amending its regulations to clarify the rules for filing physical Notices of Intention, to clarify that it does not examine Notices of Intention filed with the Office for legal sufficiency, and to include a Privacy Act Advisory Statement.

Having duly considered and accepted the Recommendation of the Register of Copyrights that the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works shall not apply to persons who engage in noninfringing uses of certain classes of copyrighted works, the Librarian of Congress is exercising his authority to publish a new rule designating classes of copyrighted works that shall be subject to statutory exemption.

The United States Copyright Office is extending the deadline for filing reply comments regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking concerning the establishment of a fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account for use of the statutory licenses that provide for the secondary transmission of broadcast programming by cable and satellite companies.

The Copyright Office is amending its regulations to clarify its practices for providing refunds of cable royalties under the provisions of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (“STELA”). A cable operator must pay royalties to and file Statements of Account with the Office every six months in order to use the statutory license that allows for the retransmission of over-the-air broadcast signals under 17 U.S.C. 111. STELA allows a cable operator to calculate its royalty obligation for the carriage of distant signals on a community-by-community basis for accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2010, instead of calculating its royalty obligation based on the system as a whole. STELA also states that a cable operator shall not be subject to an infringement action if it used the subscriber group methodology to calculate its royalty obligation in a Statement filed prior to the effective date of STELA. Although a cable operator cannot be held liable for using the subscriber group methodology, the regulation clarifies that a cable operator's obligation to pay for the carriage of distant signals prior to the effective date of STELA was determined on a system-wide basis. Therefore, refunds for an overpayment of royalty fees on a Statement filed prior to the effective date of STELA will be made only when a cable operator has satisfied its outstanding royalty obligations (if any), including the obligation to pay for the carriage of each distant signal on a system-wide basis.

The Copyright Office has further revised its proposed fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account following feedback from interested parties in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published on March 28, 2012. The modified fee schedule set forth below reflects an updated calculation of the cost of providing services.

The Copyright Office is amending its regulations for filing Notices of Intention to obtain a Section 115 compulsory license with the Copyright Office to provide an option for electronically filing notices. By law, such notices may be filed in the Office only when the public records of the Copyright Office do not identify the copyright owner of the musical work and include an address at which notice can be served. In addition, the Copyright Office is amending its regulations to clarify the rules for filing physical Notices of Intention, to clarify that it does not examine Notices of Intention filed with the Office for legal sufficiency, and to include a Privacy Act Advisory Statement.

The Copyright Office is extending the deadline for filing reply comments regarding its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning regulations for reporting Monthly and Annual Statements of Account for the making and distribution of phonorecords under a compulsory license.

Having duly considered and accepted the Recommendation of the Register of Copyrights that the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works shall not apply to persons who engage in noninfringing uses of certain classes of copyrighted works, the Librarian of Congress is exercising his authority to publish a new rule designating classes of copyrighted works that shall be subject to statutory exemption.

The Copyright Office is again extending the deadline for filing reply comments in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning the verification of Statements of Account and royalty payments that are deposited with the Office by cable operators and satellite carriers.

The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is proposing to amend its regulations for reporting Monthly and Annual Statements of Account for the making and distribution of phonorecords under the compulsory license, 17 U.S.C. 115, to bring the regulations up to date to reflect recent and pending rate determinations by the Copyright Royalty Judges, which among other things provide new rates for limited downloads, interactive streaming and incidental digital phonorecord deliveries, and to harmonize these reporting requirements with the existing regulations for reporting the making and distribution of physical phonorecords, permanent downloads and ringtones.