Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices

Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices cover

Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter has released an updated version of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. This update is effective as of January 28, 2021, and it is the governing administrative manual for registration and recordations issued by the U.S. Copyright Office on or after that date. Read more.

Important Note

The Compendium does not cover every principle of copyright law or detail every aspect of the Office’s administrative practices. In particular, this update does not reflect changes made by the recent interim rules on recordation or secure tests.

2021 Compendium full text (1,396 pages)

Citing the Compendium

Full citation
U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices § 101 (3d ed. 2021).

Short form citation
Compendium (Third) § 101.1(A).


Revision History

The Office has prepared a complete list of the sections that have been added, amended, revised, or removed in this release. In addition, the Office has prepared a set of redlines, which provide a direct comparison between the current version and the 2017 version of the Compendium. The public draft released on March 15, 2019, may be accessed here. Read more.


Access Prior Editions

The Office makes available archived versions of the Compendium, which were released by the Office from 1967 onwards. Read more.