“In response to comments…the Office agreed to revise the rule to provide ‘an alternative to the ‘complete copy of the home page’ requirement where submitting a complete copy is not feasible due to the size or continuous nature of the home page.’”
U.S. Copyright Office
The U.S. Copyright Office has implemented a rule that offers a new group registration option for frequently updated news websites. The option would allow online news sites to register “a group of updates to a news website as a collective work with a deposit composed of identifying material representing sufficient portions of the works, rather than the complete contents of the website.”
The Office issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in January of this year in response to requests from online publishers, who explained that they have unique concerns when it comes to copyrighting their content. A paper issued in 2011, Priorities and Special Projects of the United States Copyright Office (October 2011–October 2013), first acknowledged this problem, and the Office said it would be engaging with stakeholders in 2012 on potential solutions. While the Office subsequently issued guidance on the issue, online news publishers have still had to submit a separate application, deposit, and filing fee for each website update until now, which can be impractical considering such sites are updated on a sometimes-hourly basis. According to some publishers who submitted feedback to the Office, this has resulted in infringers being left ‘‘free to pick and choose from works among that content without fear of significant or immediate consequence.’’
According to today’s final rule, the Office received 20 comments on the NPRM. After considering them, two modifications and several clarifications were made from the NPRM.
The first modification reflects concerns about the “home page’’ deposit requirement. In response to comments from the Copyright Alliance, News Media Alliance (NMA) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Office agreed to revise the rule to provide “an alternative to the ‘complete copy of the home page’ requirement where submitting a complete copy is not feasible due to the size or continuous nature of the home page. In such circumstances, applicants may ‘submit the first 25 pages of the home page that demonstrates updates from the previous deposit copy,’’’ explained the rule.
The other modification relates to the application form for group registration claims. The NPRM indicated that the Office would use one of its existing group application forms, but “after consulting with the Library of Congress’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Office determined that it would be feasible to create a separate application for news website claims that will be cloned from the corresponding application that is used for group newspaper claims,” said the final rule. This is meant to simplify the process and avoid confusion.
The final rule also clarified that applicants do not need to capture daily deposits of home pages at the same exact time for each deposit. “Instead, PDFs of home pages must show how the home page appeared at some point during each day, in addition to satisfying other applicable deposit requirements.”
Among other comments it declined to adopt, the final rule rejected requests to expand the rule to other types of websites, such as specialized news sites, “in the interest of implementing this final rule as quickly as possible,” as well as arguments that the rule fails constitutionally by violating the First Amendment in limiting the group registration option to a particular type of work.
“After careful consideration of the benefits to copyright owners, the potential impact on the public record, and the ability to efficiently examine these works, the Office establishes this rule with the anticipation that it will lead to broader participation in the registration system,” said a Copyright Office announcement today.
The Rule is effective as of today, July 22.
