Proposed Amendments to Regulations Governing the Group Registration of Newsletters
The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulations governing the group registration option for newsletters. The proposed rule will make a number of changes to reflect current Office practices, promote efficiency of the registration process, and encourage broader participation in the registration system by reducing the burden on applicants. Among other things, the proposed rule will require applicants to file an online application rather than a paper application, and upload a complete digital copy of each issue through the electronic registration system instead of submitting them in physical form.
The proposed rule also clarifies the scope of protection for newsletter issues (compared to individual components appearing within those issues), that each newsletter issue in the group must be a new work or a new collective work, and that the author and copyright claimant for each issue must be the same person or organization.
The rule would also specify that registration deposits submitted through the group registration option will not satisfy the copyright owner’s separate obligation to deposit copies of works for the benefit of the Library of Congress. The proposed rule would instead require copyright owners to provide complimentary subscriptions to newsletters that the Library determines are important for its collections.