CO Issues Final Rule on Removing Extraneous PII From Copyright Records

The Copyright Office issued a final rule Thursday allowing an author, claimant to a copyright or representative to ask the office to remove “extraneous and unnecessary” personally identifiable information from online versions of their copyright's application. PII that's eligible for removal includes driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers, banking information and credit card information, the CO said in a notice in the Federal Register. The CO agreed to a recommendation from the National Center for Transgender Equality that the office modify the rule as proposed in a September NPRM (see 1609150010) to also allow authors and claimants to replace their names in the online record amid concerns that including a transgender person's birth name in the online record could jeopardize that person's well-being. The CO declined to adopt recommendations by the National Writers Union and others seeking to eliminate the requirement that an alternative physical address be used in place of a primary address in public online registration records. Copyright Act Section 409 clearly requires that “the claimant must provide a physical mailing address -- not an electronic mailing address,” the CO said: The office has always advised applicants to “think carefully before providing a claimant’s personal physical address, and are instead encouraged to provide a third-party agent’s address, a post office box, or a non-personal email address.” It declined requests to modify a proposed $130 fee for requests to remove extraneous PII or the $60 fee for requests for reconsideration of previously denied PII removal requests.