[Federal Register: July 28, 1994]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Parts 201 and 211
[Docket No. 94-5]
Fees
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Interim regulations with request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is adopting interim amendments concerning
fees with a request for comments. These fee adjustments are limited to
special services, and reflect the actual cost of providing the
services. They include full-term storage of copyright deposits, special
handling of copyright registrations, and other expedited services. The
effect of these interim regulations is to increase or institute fees
for special services as authorized under the Copyright Code.
DATES: Effective date: September 26, 1994.
Written comments should be received before September 12, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Fifteen copies of written comments should be addressed, if
sent by mail to: Eric Schwartz, Acting General Counsel, Copyright GC/
I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024.
If delivered by hand, copies should be brought to: Office of the
General Counsel, Copyright Office, James Madison Memorial Building,
Room 407, First and Independence Avenue SE., Washington, DC.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Schwartz, Acting General Counsel,
U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540.
Telephone: (202) 707-8380. Telefax (202) 707-8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Today we are issuing two separate but associated documents
concerning fees for providing certain discretionary services to the
public. This document contains interim regulations to increase or
institute fees for special services authorized under the Copyright
Code. Published elsewhere in today's Federal Register is an associated
document dealing with proposals for fees to cover costs for providing
and maintaining Deposit Accounts.
Copyright Office Funding
The Copyright Office is funded annually by Congressional
appropriation; however, the total appropriation includes a credit based
on income from projected fees. We base this projection on an estimate
of the fees we expect to receive over the course of the next fiscal
year from services provided during that period. If revenue from fees
falls short of our estimate, the total Congressional appropriation is
decreased by the amount of the shortfall. In fiscal year 1993, our
receipts failed to reach the projected level. Analysis of current fees
indicates that the total received in fiscal year 1994 will again fall
short of the projected amount.
Not only has Congressional funding been reduced, but the fee income
has also declined because the number of copyright registrations, and
the consequential fees they generate, have not increased in recent
years. There are several possible explanations for this shortfall,
including an increase in group registrations and fewer renewal
registrations resulting from legislation in 1992 making renewal
registration optional.
Congressional Authorization
Title 17 of the United States Code authorizes the Register of
Copyrights to require payment of fees for services specifically
described in section 708(a)(1)-(9). In addition, paragraph 708(a)(10)
permits the Register to require ``for any other special services
requiring a substantial amount of time or expense, such fees as the
Register of Copyrights may fix on the basis of the cost of providing
the service.'' The final sentence in 17 U.S.C. 708(a) provides that
``[t]he Register of Copyrights is authorized to fix the fees for
preparing copies of Copyright Office records, whether or not such
copies are certified, on the basis of the cost of such preparation.''
Paragraph 708(d) further permits the Register to prescribe regulations
for the refund of ``any sum paid by mistake or in excess of the fee
required. . . .''
Actual Costs of Providing Special Services
Before proposing these fee adjustments, we consulted the Library of
Congress' financial managers and conducted a comprehensive economic
analysis of the operating costs involved in providing special user
services to ascertain the actual costs of providing these services. Our
analysis concluded that the current fees charged for special services
do not offset the costs of the services provided. Most of the fees for
special services have not been adjusted in almost a decade. Special
services entail high administrative costs because requests for these
services disrupt the normal work flow, are labor intensive, and are
moved ahead of regular requests. The analysis included an examination
of all the discretionary fees set under authority of 17 U.S.C.
708(a)(10). It identified the special services currently offered, and
it calculated the cost of providing each service, taking into account
staff time, overtime, and storage. In the past, the Office has chosen
not to charge any fee for some services. Our analysis confirmed that we
should adjust fees in order to justify the disruption to our normal
work-flow and the high cost of these services, and to recapture actual
cost; it also confirmed that we should impose charges for certain other
administrative expenses.
Fees for Expedited Services
Users who request expedited services need information or certified
documents in order to meet extraordinary time deadlines, usually for
business or litigation purposes. In these situations a user asks us to
move his or her request ahead of the hundreds of pending requests; in
most cases, if sufficient reason is given, we will comply. Compliance
requires additional staff time or overtime to respond to the request in
an expedited manner. It is appropriate to charge special service fees
that reflect the actual costs of these services to avoid other users or
the general public from having to subsidize these services. We are not
proposing adjustments to the statutory fees set under Sec. 708(b) or
seeking any legislative change in these fees. We will continue to
provide regular searches, certifications, or copies of registration or
recordation materials at the current fees.\1\
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\1\See Copyright Office Circular 4 for current schedule of fees.
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II. Special Handling Fees
Special Handling Procedure
Although the effective date of registration is the date the
application, required fee, and deposit are received, it usually takes
us several weeks to process a claim and mail the certificate of
registration. Special handling is granted at the discretion of the
Register in a limited number of cases as a special service to copyright
applicants who have a compelling reason for the expedited issuance of a
certificate of registration or recordation of a document pertaining to
copyright. A request for special handling is granted only for claims
involved in pending or prospective litigation, customs matters, or
contract or publishing deadlines that necessitate expedited service.
For many years, we used an informal procedure for special handling of
applications. When we began providing this service, we noted that we
could not continue to absorb the extra charges for providing such a
service, but did not establish a fee for special handling until 1982
when these procedures were formalized. 47 FR 19254 (May 4, 1982).
Work Involved in Special Handling
Under normal work procedures, applications for registration or
documents for recordation pass through various administrative and
examining processing steps. Special handling requests disrupt the
regular workflow procedure and require expedited handling outside the
normal first-in, first-out basis. These claims require special handling
at each step and routing between work stations that supersedes the
normal, chronological processing. A separate system of controls must be
maintained to assure that each claim moves expeditiously through each
stage and that these claims can be quickly located. Special handling
claims take staff away from processing all other claims, including
those received earlier, in order to process them in a substantially
shorter time period. Under regular procedures these same employees
could more efficiently process many standard claims.
Multiple Applications
Another special workflow problem for the Office arises from
processing multiple applications accompanied by a single deposit when
the request for special handling is limited to one claim or fewer than
all of the multiple claims. Because all the applications share the
deposit for the special handling claim, all claims must be processed in
the same expedited manner. A $50 surcharge is currently applied to each
additional claim attached to the deposit used for the special handling
claim and processed at the same time. This surcharge will remain at
$50, but it may be avoided by submitting a separate deposit.
Fees for Special Handling
When a fee is charged for special handling, this fee is added to
the regular fee for registration ($20.00) or recordation ($20.00 for a
document listing no more than one title).
In 1982 we set the special handling fee at $120. 47 FR 19254 (May
4, 1982). In 1984 we raised the fee to $200 to reflect the actual cost
of the service. 49 FR 39741 (Oct. 10, 1984). In 1985, we established
the special handling procedures for import statements and documents. 50
FR 46206 (Nov. 6, 1985). In 1991 we reviewed our special handling
procedure, but did not increase fees. 56 FR 37528 (August 7, 1991).
We have not adjusted special handling fees for almost ten years.
Our analysis indicates that to recover actual costs the new fee should
be $330. The conditions under which a request for special handling is
approved will not change. We are also raising the fee for special
handling of mask work claims, which have not changed since 1985, 50 FR
26719 (June 28, 1985), as amended at 56 FR 59886 (Nov. 26, 1991), from
$200 to $330.
III. Full-Term Storage
Service Provided
The Copyright Code mandates storage for the full copyright term of
copies or phonorecords of unpublished registered works. It does not
specify how long we should retain deposits for published works.
Retention is more important in the case of unpublished works because
our copy or phonorecord may be the only one in existence. Our policy
for published works is to retain deposit copies or phonorecords not
selected by the Library for its collections for at least five years
from the date of registration; if possible, we retain copies of visual
arts works for at least ten years or longer. In addition, we offer
optional full-term storage service for those who register published
works and want to assure that the deposits will be retained in our
custody for the full term of copyright.
Fees for Full-Term Storage
Congress authorized a fee for full-term storage in 17 U.S.C.
704(e). Our current charge for full-term storage of published copyright
deposits is $135. 52 FR 28821 (Aug. 4, 1987). Our recent analysis of
the costs of this service reveals that the actual cost is much higher.
Our new regulations increase the charge to $270 for full-term storage
of published deposits. We will continue to provide full-term storage of
unpublished deposits without a fee.
IV. Expedited Certifications and Documents Services
Services Provided
Users may request an additional certificate of registration, or
copies of the copyright deposit, the copyright application,
correspondence, and other copyright related documents. Frequently the
requester needs these services on an expedited basis for compelling
business or litigation reasons. The Certifications and Documents
Section expedites these services when sufficient reason is provided.
Justification of Increase
The fees for these expedited services were established after the
revision of the Copyright Code in 1978 and have never been increased.
Our new interim regulations increase the fees for expedited services
performed by the Certifications & Documents Section to reflect actual
costs and expenses. Actual costs for these services include the staff
time necessary to travel to and search off-site storage facilities; in
contrast, non-expedited requests are mailed to off-site division
offices where regular staff can search for the requested material. All
of these expedited service fees are surcharges that will be added to
the regular charge for the service provided.
Expedited Additional Certificates
The fee for providing an expedited additional certificate,
performing a search for a document that is ``in-process'' (where the
recordation process has not been completed), or certifying or
furnishing a copy of a document has been $18 per hour for almost ten
years. These new regulations will raise the rate to $50 per hour.
Copy of Deposit or File Under Copyright Office Control
The fee for providing an expedited copy of a copyright deposit
stored off-site in a Copyright Office storage facility, or for
furnishing a copy of a correspondence file stored either on-site or
off-site, has been $18 per hour. The new fee will be $70 for the first
hour spent in providing the copy and $50 for each additional hour. The
first hour is more costly because it reflects time expended by several
staff members.
Copy of Deposit or File Not Under Our Control
Expedited provision of a copy of a deposit or correspondence file
stored off-site at a Federal Records Center, a more remote site not
under the control of the Copyright Office, has also been $18 per hour.
It is being increased to $135 for the first hour and $50 for each
additional hour. This service costs more to provide because support
services are more numerous and time-consuming and must also cover the
cost of returning the deposit or correspondence file to the Federal
Records Center.
V. Reference and Bibliographic Searches
Services Provided
Copyright owners and users frequently need to get information on
registrations, renewals, and transfers and other documents relating to
copyright. Our records on these copyright related facts are public and
are available for public inspection. A researcher can either come to
the Office during regular business hours and perform a free search
(with assistance from Copyright Office staff) or the researcher can
have someone else perform the search. Several organizations provide
such services for a fee. In addition, the post-1978 records of the
Copyright Office (and the bibliographic records of the Library of
Congress) are available on-line via the Internet.
The Reference and Bibliography Section of the Copyright Office will
perform an expedited search of these public records for a fee when
there is a compelling reason to do so. The Reference and Bibliography
Section regularly performs searches of Office records at the statutory
rate of $20 for each hour or fraction of an hour consumed. Before
January 3, 1991, that section performed approved expedited searches for
the statutory $10 hourly fee plus an additional charge of $20 per hour
for the expedited service with a two hour minimum charge (a $60
minimum). Since then, the statutory fee has been $20 per hour, bringing
the minimum to $80.00. Under the new fee schedule the charge for
approved expedited searches is $100 for the first hour and $50 for each
additional hour plus the $20 statutory fee for each hour.
The public can conduct searches on the Copyright Office in-process
systems (COINS) database through a public access terminal in the
Records Maintenance Unit for the search fee of $20 per hour or fraction
of an hour. This fee will remain unchanged.
VI. Copying Fees
We will continue to duplicate our records under the conditions
detailed in the applicable regulatory provisions and offer use of
photocopy equipment and microfilm printers for the public's use at the
prevailing rates established by the Photoduplication Service of the
Library of Congress, except for certain specialized services for which
the rates are based on our operational costs (e.g. color photocopying).
Additional charges for specialized copying, for example audio cassette
copying charges, are fixed by other divisions of the Library providing
these services. All of these fees may be adjusted periodically.
VII. Policy Decision on Refund of Excess Fees
Automatic Refund Level
Our practice until 1991 was automatically to refund excess fees of
more than $5.00; amounts of $5.00 or less were not refunded unless
specifically requested. In 1991 we changed the automatic refund policy
to provide automatic refund for payments of $10.01 or more in excess of
the statutory fee; 56 FR 7812 (Feb. 26, 1991). 37 CFR 201.6(c). We are
now adjusting the level at which automatic refunds of overpayments will
be made from $10.01 to $50.01; we will not refund amounts of $50 or
less unless specifically requested.
VIII. Administrative Processing Fee for Nonregistration Services
In 1991, we determined that an administrative processing fee is
authorized under section 708(a) of the Copyright Code to reflect the
minimum administrative cost of responding to a request for a
nonregistrative service, even if the service cannot be successfully
completed. For example, a request is made for a certification of
records and after a search by our staff, the file cannot be found. We
need to charge an administrative fee for the search even though it is
unsuccessful. Accordingly in 1991, we amended 37 CFR 201.6(c) to state
that in making any refund of fees remitted for nonregistration
services, we could first deduct our administrative cost. Our regulation
permits us to charge a processing fee ``in an amount equivalent to one
hour of the requested service, or the minimum fee set by statute for
the service.'' 37 CFR 201.6(c). We will not make any change to this
charge.
List of Subjects
37 CFR Part 201
Copyright, Fees.
37 CFR Part 211
Computer technology, Fees, Master work protection, Science and
technology, Semi-conductor chip products.
Interim Rules
In consideration of the foregoing, parts 201 and 211 of 37 CFR
chapter II are amended as follows.
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The authority citation for part 201 is revised to read as
follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702, 708.
Sec. 201.6 [Amended]
2. In Sec. 201.6, paragraph (c) remove the fee of ``$10,'' and add
in its place ``$50''.
3. Section 201.32 is added to read as follows:
Sec. 201.32 Fees for Copyright Office special services.
The Copyright Office has established the following fees for the
special services indicated:
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Special services Fees
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1. Special handling fee....... $330.
2. Full-term storage fee...... 270.
3. Surcharge for expedited
Certifications and Documents
Section services (per hour)
a. Additional certificates 50.
b. In-process searches.... 50.
c. Copy of assignment..... 50.
d. Certification.......... 50.
e. Copy of deposit (stored 70 (first hour).
off-site). 50 (each additional hour).
f. Copy of correspondence 70 (first hour).
file (stored in Madison 50 (each additional hour).
Building) or at an off-
site storage facility.
g. Copy of deposit or 135 (first hour).
correspondence file 50 (each additional hour).
(stored at Federal
Records Center).
4. Surcharge for expedited
Reference and Bibliography
searches:
a. First hour............. 100.
b. Each additional hour... 50.
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PART 211--MASK WORK PROTECTION
1. The authority citation for part 211 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 908.
Sec. 211.3 [Amended]
2. In Sec. 211.3, paragraph (a)(7) remove the fee of ``$200,'' and
add in its place ``$330''.
Dated: July 19, 1994.
Barbara Ringer,
Acting Register of Copyrights.
Approved:
James H. Billington,
Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 94-18306 Filed 7-27-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-07-P