CO Issues NPRM on Rules for Supplementary Copyright Registrations

The Copyright Office sought comment Thursday on an NPRM on amendments to its rules on supplementary registration. Most copyright applicants would be required under the amended rules to submit an online application in order to correct or “amplify” the information included in the basic registration application, the CO said in a Federal Register notice. “Paper applications are extremely burdensome for both applicants and the Office,” the CO said. “Increasing demand on the Office’s limited resources causes delays in issuing supplementary registrations, and it prevents specialists from examining other types of claims thereby increasing the overall backlog within the Office.” The filing fee for supplementary applications would rise from $100 to $130 under the proposal, the CO said. The revised section also would update rules on when the CO may decline supplementary registrations and update practices regarding cross-references in the CO’s public record, the office said. The new rule would clarify that the CO may “decline to issue a supplementary registration for a basic registration that covered the first twenty-eight years of the copyright term, because any registration issued before January 1, 1978 has expired by now,” the CO said. “Allowing interested parties to correct or amplify the information in a registration after the initial term expired creates a potential for error, mistake, or even fraud.” Comments on the NPRM are due Jan. 3.