Eighth Triennial Section 1201 Proceeding (2021)

Instructions for Submitting Short-Form Comments

Short-form comments may be submitted where a commenter wishes to only briefly express general support for or opposition to a proposed exemption. All other, more substantive, comments must be submitted using the Office’s long comment form.

Short-form comments may be submitted directly through regulations.gov by typing them into the “Comment” field on the submission form. Please do not upload a file containing duplicate comments. Please note that the “Comment” field has a 5000-character limit.

Commenters must submit a separate comment for each proposed class they wish to address, although commenters may submit comments for more than one class.

Instructions for Submitting Long-Form Comments

Commenters who wish to provide a full legal and evidentiary basis for their position must use the Office’s long comment form available on the Office’s website at https://www.copyright.gov/1201/2021. Comments may be single-spaced, but should be in at least 12-point type. The Office’s form must be used by commenters for all three rounds of comments, but need only be completed to the extent necessary. Commenters must submit a separate comment for each proposed class they wish to address, although commenters may submit comments for more than one class.

In preparing to upload your long comment form to regulations.gov, please be sure that the document includes the name of the submitter and any organization the submitter represents at the top of the document. This information is required in the uploaded document even though the submitter is also completing the fields in the regulations.gov submission form asking for “First Name,” “Last Name” and, where applicable, “Organization Name.”

If you are uploading comments, you should not type any information into the “Comment” field. Instead, upload the file by clicking the “Choose files” button under the “Upload file(s)” section of the form. When a file is uploaded, the system will automatically populate the “Comment” field with the phrase “See attached file(s).”

If you are uploading a long comment form, you should not type any information into the “Comment” field. Instead, upload the file by clicking the “Choose files” button under the “Upload file(s)” section of the form. When a file is uploaded, the system will automatically populate the “Comment” field with the phrase “See attached file(s).”

Written comments and all associated documentary evidence (but not multimedia evidence, which has separate instructions below), must be uploaded in a single file in either Portable Document File (PDF) format that contains searchable, accessible text (not an image); Microsoft Word; WordPerfect; Rich Text Format (RTF); or ASCII text file format (not a scanned document). The maximum file size is 6 megabytes (MB). The name of the submitter (and organization) should appear on both the submission form and the face of the comment.

Instructions for the First Name, Last Name, Contact Information, and Organization Name Fields on the Regulations.gov Submission Form

Individual Commenters.

Individual commenters and commenters not representing an organization must provide the first and last name of the person commenting in the “First Name” and “Last Name” fields. Leave the box labeled “I am submitting on behalf of a third party” unchecked. If submitting comments on behalf of more than one individual, use the first and last name of the first individual listed on the comments, but after the last name add “et al.” (e.g., type “Jane” as the first name and “Doe et al.” as the last name). If desired, provide contact information by checking the box labeled “I want to provide my contact information” and completing the related fields. Please note that all information and files provided in the submission process will be publicly available.

Organizations.

Organizational commenters must provide the first and last name of an authorized representative of the organization who is responsible for the comments in the “First Name” and “Last Name” fields. For example, if the comments are signed, use the name of the person who signed the submission. Alternatively, use the name of the person in the organization who authorized the submission of the comments. Organizational commenters must check the box labeled “I am submitting on behalf of a third party” and provide the name of the organization in the “Organization Name” field. If desired, contact information for the organization may be included by checking the box labeled “I want to provide my contact information” and completing the related fields. Please note that all information and files provided in the submission process will be made public.

Instructions for Submitting Multimedia Evidence

Commenters may provide multimedia evidence in support of their arguments. If submitting such evidence, commenters must indicate this by checking the box on the first page of their long comment form. Multimedia evidence should not be uploaded to regulations.gov. Instead, contact the Office as indicated in the Federal Register notice for specific submission instructions.

Link to comment submission form:

Section 1201 Comment Submission