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Title 37: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights


§ 201.1   Communication with the Copyright Office.

(a) General purpose addresses. Members of the public must use the correct address in order to facilitate timely receipt by the copyright division or section to which an inquiry should be directed. The following addresses may be used for general inquiries made to a particular division or section of the Copyright Office. Addresses for special, limited purposes are provided below in paragraph (b) of this section. Anyone who is not certain where a particular inquiry should be directed, should inquire about the proper address through the “Contact us” section on the Office's Web site ( http://www.copyright.gov ) or call the Public Information Office at (202) 707–3000.

(1) In general. Mail and other communications which do not come under the areas listed in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section shall be addressed to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559–6000.

(2) Inquiries to Licensing Division. Inquiries about filings related to the compulsory licenses (17 U.S.C. 111, 112, 114, 115, 118, 119, 122 and chapter 10) should be addressed to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, Licensing Division, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20557–6400.

(3) Copies of records or deposits. Requests for copies of records or deposits for use in litigation or other authorized purposes should be addressed to the Records Research and Certification Section, LM–455, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559–6302.

(4) Search of records. Requests for searches of registrations and recordations in the completed catalogs, indexes, and other records of the Copyright Office should be addressed to the Records Research and Certification Section, LM–455, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559–6306. Records dating from January 1, 1978, forward are available for searching on the Copyright Office's Web site at http://www.copyright.gov: COHM, which includes information on all registrations except serials; COHD, which includes information on recordations; and COHS, which includes information on serials.

(b) Limited purpose addresses. The following addresses may be used only in the special, limited circumstances given for a particular Copyright Office service:

(1) Time sensitive requests. Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests; notices of filing of copyright infringement lawsuits;3 comments for rulemaking proceedings; requests for Copyright Office speakers; requests for approvals of computer generated application forms; requests for expedited service from either the Records Research and Certification Section to meet the needs of pending or prospective litigation, customs matters or contract or publishing deadlines should be addressed to: Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024–0400.

3 All litigation material is time sensitive and must be addressed to the appropriate section of the Copyright Office; the Office is also publishing new regulations governing legal process.

(2) Copyright Royalty Board. See §301. 2 of this title for the mailing address for claims, pleadings, and general correspondence intended for the Copyright Royalty Board.

[69 FR 39331, June 30, 2004, as amended at 73 FR 37838, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.2   Information given by the Copyright Office.

(a) In general.

(1) Information relative to the operations of the Copyright Office is supplied without charge. A search of the records, indexes, and deposits will be made for such information as they may contain relative to copyright claims upon application and payment of the statutory fee. The Copyright Office, however, does not undertake the making of comparisons of copyright deposits to determine similarity between works.

(2) The Copyright Office does not furnish the names of copyright attorneys, publishers, agents, or other similar information.

(3) In the administration of the Copyright Act in general, the Copyright Office interprets the Act. The Copyright Office, however, does not give specific legal advice on the rights of persons, whether in connection with particular uses of copyrighted works, cases of alleged foreign or domestic copyright infringement, contracts between authors and publishers, or other matters of a similar nature.

(b) Inspection and copying of records.

(1) Inspection and copying of completed records and indexes relating to a registration or a recorded document, and inspection of copies or identifying material deposited in connection with a completed copyright registration may be undertaken in the Records Research and Certification Section. Since some of these materials are not stored on the immediate premises of the Copyright Office, it is advisable to consult the Certifications and Documents Section to determine the length of time necessary to produce the requested materials.

(2) It is the general policy of the Copyright Office to deny direct public access to in-process files and to any work (or other) areas where they are kept. However, direct public use of computers intended to access the automated equivalent of limited portions of these files is permitted on a specified terminal in the Records Management Section, LM B–14, Monday through Friday, upon payment of applicable fees.

(3) Information contained in Copyright Office in-process files may be obtained by anyone upon payment of applicable fees and request to the Information and Records Division, in accordance with the following procedures:

(i) In general, all requests by the public for information in the in-process and open unfinished business files should be made to the Records Research and Certification Section, which upon receipt of applicable fees will give a report that provides the following for each request:

(A) The date(s) of receipt of:

( 1 ) The application(s) for registration that may have been submitted and is (are) in process;

( 2 ) The document(s) that may have been submitted for recordation and is (are) in process;

( 3 ) The copy or copies (or phonorecords) that may have been submitted;

(B) The title of the work(s); and

(C) The name of the remitter.

(ii) Such searches of the in-process files will be given priority to the extent permitted by the demands of normal work flow of the affected sections of the Copyright Office.

(4) Access will be afforded as follows to pending applications for registration, the deposit material accompanying them, and pending documents for recordation that were submitted within the twelve month period immediately preceding the request for access:

(i) In the case of applications for registration and deposits accompanying them, upon the request of the copyright claimant or his/her authorized representative, and

(ii) In the case of documents, upon the request of at least one of the persons who executed the document or by an authorized representative of that person.

These requests should be made to the Copyright Information Section, and the review of the materials will be permitted there. No charge will be made for reviewing these materials; the appropriate search fee identified in §201.3(c) or §201.3(d) will be assessed, and the appropriate copying fee identified in §201.3(c) or §201.3(d) will be assessed if the claimant wants and is entitled to a copy of the material.

(5) In exceptional circumstances, the Register of Copyrights may allow inspection of pending applications and open correspondence files by someone other than the copyright claimant, upon submission of a written request which is deemed by the Register to show good cause for such access and establishes that the person making the request is one properly and directly concerned. The written request should be addressed to Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024.

(6) Direct public access will not be permitted to any financial or accounting records, including records maintained on Deposit Accounts.

(7) The Copyright Office maintains administrative staff manuals referred to as its “Compendium of Office Practices I” and “Compendium of Office Practices II” for the general guidance of its staff in making registrations and recording documents. The manuals, as amended and supplemented from time to time, are available for purchase from the National Technical Information Service (Compendium I) and the Government Printing Office (Compendium II). They are also available for public inspection and copying in the Records Research and Certifications Section. As the Office updates and revises certain chapters of Compendium II, it will make the information available on the Copyright Office's Web site. This information is also available for public inspection and copying in the Records Research and Certifications Section.

(c) Correspondence.

(1) Official correspondence, including preliminary applications, between copyright claimants or their agents and the Copyright Office, and directly relating to a completed registration, a recorded document, a rejected application for registration, or a document for which recordation was refused is available for public inspection. Included in the correspondence available for public inspection is that portion of the file directly relating to a completed registration, recorded document, a rejected application for registration, or a document for which recordation was refused which was once open to public inspection as a closed case, even if the case is subsequently reopened. Public inspection is available only for the correspondence contained in the file during the time it was closed because of one of the aforementioned actions. Correspondence relating to the reopening of the file and reconsideration of the case is considered part of an in-process file until final action is taken, and public inspection of that correspondence is governed by §201.2(b). Requests for reproductions of the correspondence shall be made pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section.

(2) Correspondence, application forms, and any accompanying material forming a part of a pending application are considered in-process files and access to them is governed by paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) Correspondence, memoranda, reports, opinions, and similar material relating to internal matters of personnel and procedures, office administration, security matters, and internal consideration of policy and decisional matters including the work product of an attorney, are not open to public inspection.

(4) The Copyright Office will not respond to any abusive or scurrilous correspondence or correspondence where the intent is unknown.

(d) Requests for copies.

(1) Requests for copies of records should include the following:

(i) A clear identification of the type of records desired (for example, additional certificates of registration, copies of correspondence, copies of deposits).

(ii) A specification of whether the copies are to be certified or uncertified.

(iii) A clear identification of the specific records to be copied. Requests should include the following specific information, if possible:

(A) The type of work involved (for example, novel, lyrics, photograph);

(B) The registration number;

(C) The year date or approximate year date of registration;

(D) The complete title of the work;

(E) The author(s) including any pseudonym by which the author may be known; and

(F) The claimant(s); and

(G) If the requested copy is of an assignment, license, contract, or other recorded document, the volume and page number of the recorded document.

(iv) If the copy requested is an additional certificate of registration, include the fee. The Records Research and Certifications Section will review requests for copies of other records and quote fees for each.

(v) The telephone number and address of the requestor.

(2) Requests for certified or uncertified reproductions of the copies, phonorecords, or identifying material deposited in connection with a copyright registration of published or unpublished works in the custody of the Copyright Office will be granted only when one of the following three conditions has been met:

(i) The Copyright Office receives written authorization from the copyright claimant of record or his or her designated agent, or from the owner of any of the exclusive rights in the copyright as long as this ownership can be demonstrated by written documentation of the transfer of ownership.

(ii) The Copyright Office receives a written request from an attorney on behalf of either the plaintiff or defendant in connection with litigation, actual or prospective, involving the copyrighted work. The following information must be included in such a request:

(A) The names of all the parties involved and the nature of the controversy;

(B) The name of the court in which the actual case is pending or, in the case of a prospective proceeding, a full statement of the facts of the controversy in which the copyrighted work is involved; and

(C) Satisfactory assurance that the requested reproduction will be used only in connection with the specified litigation.

(iii) The Copyright Office receives a court order for reproduction of the deposited copies, phonorecords, or identifying material of a registered work which is the subject of litigation. The order must be issued by a court having jurisdiction of the case in which the reproduction is to be submitted as evidence.

(3) When a request is made for a reproduction of a phonorecord, such as an audiotape or cassette, in which either a sound recording or the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work is embodied, the Copyright Office will provide proximate reproduction. The Copyright Office reserves the right to substitute a monaural reproduction for a stereo, quadraphonic, or any other type of fixation of the work accepted for deposit.

[50 FR 30170, July 24, 1985, as amended at 51 FR 30062, Aug. 22, 1986; 62 FR 35421, July 1, 1997; 64 FR 29520, June 1, 1999; 69 FR 39332, June 30, 2004; 69 FR 70377, Dec. 6, 2004]

§ 201.3   Fees for registration, recordation, and related services, special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.

(a) General. This section prescribes the fees for registration, recordation, and related services, special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) Registration, recordation, and related service fee. This is the fee for a registration or recordation service that the Office is required to perform under 17 U.S.C., or a directly related service. It includes those services described in section 708(a)(1)–(9) and authorized by Pub. L. 105–80.

(2) Special service fee. This is a fee for a special service not specified in title 17, which the Register of Copyrights may fix at any time on the basis of the cost of providing the service, as provided by 17 U.S.C. 708(a)(10).

(3) Licensing Division service fee. This is a fee for a service performed by the Licensing Division.

(c) Registration, recordation and related service fees. The Copyright Office has established the following fees for these services:

Registration, Recordation and Rated ServicesFees
(1) Registration of a basic claim in an original work of authorship: Forms TX, SE, PA, VA (including Short Forms), and Form SR$45
(2) Electronic Registration of a basic claim in an original work of authorship: Form CO 35
(3) Registration of a claim in a group of contributions to periodicals (GR/CP) 45
(4) Registration of a renewal claim (Form RE): Claim without Addendum 75
    Addendum220
(5) Registration of a claim in a mask work (Form MW) 95
(6) Registration of a claim in a group of serials (Form SE/Group) [per issue, with minimum 2 issues] 25
(7) Registration of a claim in a group of daily newspapers and qualified newsletters (Form G/DN) 70
(8) Registration of a claim in a restored copyright (Form GATT) 45
(9) Registration of a group of published photographs 45
(10) Preregistration of certain unpublished works100
(11) Registration of a correction or amplification to a claim (Form CA)115
(12) Providing an additional certificate of registration 40
(13) Certification of other Copyright Office records (per hour)150
(14) Search–report prepared from official records (per hour)150
    Estimate of search fee100
(15) Location of Copyright Office records (per hour)150
    Location of in-process materials (per hour)150
(16) Recordation of document, including a Notice of Intention to Enforce (NIE) (single title) 95
    Additional titles (per group of 10 titles) 25
(17) Recordation of Notice of Intention to Make and Distribute Phonorecords 12
(18) Recordation of an Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement under §512(c)(2) 80
(19) Issuance of a receipt for a §407 deposit 20
(20) Registration of a claim in a vessel hull (including 3 pages of drawing or photographs)200
    Additional pages 20
(21) Recordation of distinctive identification of vessel hull designer 80

(d) Special Service Fees. The Copyright Office has established the following fees for special services:

Special servicesFees
(1) Service charge for deposit account overdraft$150
(2) Service charge for dishonored deposit account replenishment check75
(3) Appeals:
(i) First appeal250
Additional claim in related group25
(ii) Second appeal500
Additional claim in related group25
(4) Secure test processing charge, per hour150
(5) Copying of Copyright Office Records by staff:
Photocopy (b&w) (per page, minimum $6)0.50
Photocopy (color) (per page, minimum $6)1.50
Photograph (Polaroid)15
Photograph (digital)45
Slide3
Audiocassette (first 30 minutes)75
Additional 15 minute increments20
Videocassette (first 30 minutes)75
Additional 15 minute increments25
CD or DVD50
Zip or floppy disk100
(6) Special handling fee for a claim685
Each additional claim using the same deposit50
(7) Special handling fee for recordation of a document435
(8) Handling fee of extra deposit copy for certification45
(9) Full-term retention of a published deposit425
(10) Expedited Reference and Bibliography search and report400/hr
(11) Expedited Certification & Documents services (surcharge, per hour)240
(12) Notice to Libraries and Archives50
Each additional title20
(13) Use of COINS terminal in LM–B14 (per hour)25
(14) Fed Ex Service35
(15) Delivery of documents via facsimile (per page, 7 page maximum)1

(e) Licensing Division service fees . The Copyright Office has established the following fees for certain services performed by the Licensing Division:

Licensing Division ServicesFees
(1) Recordation of a Notice of Intention to Make and Distribute Phonorecords (17 U.S.C. 115)$12
(2) Filing Fee for Recordation of License Agreements under 17 U.S.C. 118125
(3) Recordation of Certain Contracts by Cable Television Systems Located Outside the Forty-Eight Contiguous States 50
(4) Initial Notice of Digital Transmission of Sound Recording (17 U.S.C. 114) 20
    Amendment of 17 U.S.C. 114 Notice 20
(5) Statement of Account Amendment (Cable Television Systems, Satellite Carriers, and Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media, 17    
U.S.C. 111, 119, and 1003) 95
(6) Amendment to an Initial Notice of Distribution of Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media 20
(7) Photocopy made by staff (b&w) (per page, minimum $6)0.50
(8) Search, per hour150
(9) Certification of Search Report150

[64 FR 29520, June 1, 1999, as amended at 64 FR 36574, July 7, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 67 FR 38005, May 31, 2002; 71 FR 31090, June 1, 2006; 71 FR 46402, Aug. 14, 2006; 72 FR 33691, June 19, 2007]

§ 201.4   Recordation of transfers and certain other documents.

(a) General.

(1) This section prescribes conditions for the recordation of transfers of copyright ownership and other documents pertaining to a copyright under section 205 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. The filing or recordation of the following documents is not within the provisions of this section:

(i) Certain contracts entered into by cable systems located outside of the 48 contiguous States (17 U.S.C. 111(e); see 37 CFR 201.12);

(ii) Notices of identity and signal carriage complement, and statements of account of cable systems and satellite carriers and for digital audio recording devices and media (17 U.S.C. 111(d), 119(b) and 1003(c); see 37 CFR 201.11; 201.17; 201.28);

(iii) Original, signed notices of intention to obtain compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works (17 U.S.C. 115(b); see 37 CFR 201.18);

(iv) License agreements, and terms and rates of royalty payments, voluntarily negotiated between one or more public broadcasting entities and certain owners of copyright (17 U.S.C. 118; see 37 CFR 201.9);

(v) Notices of termination (17 U.S.C. 203, 304(c) and (d); see 37 CFR 201.10); and

(vi) Statements regarding the identity of authors of anonymous and pseudonymous works, and statements relating to the death of authors (17 U.S.C. 302).

(2) A transfer of copyright ownership has the meaning set forth in section 101 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. A document shall be considered to “pertain to a copyright” if it has a direct or indirect relationship to the existence, scope, duration, or identification of a copyright, or to the ownership, division, allocation, licensing, transfer, or exercise of rights under a copyright. That relationship may be past, present, future, or potential.

(3) For purposes of this section:

(i) A sworn certification is an affidavit under the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, or if the original is located outside of the United States, under the official seal of any diplomatic or consular officer of the United States or of a person authorized to administer oaths whose authority is proved by the certificate of such an officer, or a statement in accordance with section 1746 of title 28 of the United States Code; and

(ii) An official certification is a certification, by the appropriate Government official, that the original of the document is on file in a public office and that the reproduction is a true copy or the original.

(b) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for the use of persons recording documents.

(c) Recordable documents. Any transfer of copyright ownership (including any instrument of conveyance, or note or memorandum of the transfer), or any other document pertaining to a copyright, may be recorded in the Copyright Office if it is accompanied by the fee set forth in paragraph (d) of this section, and if the requirements of this paragraph with respect to signatures, completeness, and legibility are met.

(1) To be recordable, the document must bear the actual signature or signatures of the person or persons who executed it. Alternatively, the document may be recorded if it is a legible photocopy or other legible facsimile reproduction of the signed document, accompanied by a sworn certification or an official certification that the reproduction is a true copy of the signed document. Any sworn certification accompanying a reproduction shall be signed by at least one of the parties to the signed document, or by an authorized representative of that person.

(2) To be recordable, the document must be complete by its own terms.

(i) A document that contains a reference to any schedule, appendix, exhibit, addendum, or other material as being attached to the document or made a part of it shall be recordable only if the attachment is also submitted for recordation with the document or if the reference is deleted by the parties to the document. If a document has been submitted for recordation and has been returned by the Copyright Office at the request of the sender for deletion of the reference to an attachment, the document will be recorded only if the deletion is signed or initialed by the persons who executed the document or by their authorized representatives. In exceptional cases a document containing a reference to an attachment will be recorded without the attached material and without deletion of the reference if the person seeking recordation submits a written request specifically asserting that:

(A) The attachment is completely unavailable for recordation; and

(B) The attachment is not essential to the identification of the subject matter of the document; and

(C) It would be impossible or wholly impracticable to have the parties to the document sign or initial a deletion of the reference.

In such exceptional cases, the Copyright Office records of the document will be annotated to show that recordation was made in response to a specific request under this paragraph.

(ii) If a document otherwise recordable under this title indicates on its face that it is a self-contained part of a larger instrument (for example: if it is designated “Attachment A” or “Exhibit B”), the Copyright Office will raise the question of completeness, but will record the document if the person requesting recordation asserts that the document is sufficiently complete as it stands.

(iii) When the document submitted for recordation merely identifies or incorporates by reference another document, or certain terms of another document, the Copyright Office will raise no question of completeness, and will not require recordation of the other document.

(3) To be recordable, the document must be legible and capable of being reproduced in legible microform copies.

(d) Fees. The fees for recordation of a document are prescribed in §201.3(c).

(e) Recordation. The date of recordation is the date when a proper document under paragraph (c) of this section and a proper fee under paragraph (d) of this section are all received in the Copyright Office. After recordation the document is returned to the sender with a certificate of record.

(17 U.S.C. 205, 702, 708)

[43 FR 35044, Aug. 8, 1978, as amended at 53 FR 123, Jan. 5, 1988; 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 67 FR 69136, Nov. 15, 2002; 70 FR 38022, July 1, 2005]

§ 201.5   Corrections and amplifications of copyright registrations; applications for supplementary registration.

(a) General.

(1) This section prescribes conditions relating to the filing of an application for supplementary registration, to correct an error in a copyright registration or to amplify the information given in a registration, under section 408(d) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. For the purposes of this section:

(i) A basic registration means any of the following:

(A) A copyright registration made under sections 408, 409, and 410 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553;

(B) A renewal registration made under section 304 of title 17 of the United States Code, as so amended;

(C) A registration of claim to copyright made under title 17 of the United States Code as it existed before January 1, 1978; or

(D) A renewal registration made under title 17 of the United States Code as it existed before January 1, 1978; and

(ii) A supplementary registration means a registration made upon application under section 408(d) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, and the provisions of this section.

(2) No correction or amplification of the information in a basic registration will be made except pursuant to the provisions of this §201.5. As an exception, where it is discovered that the record of a basic registration contains an error that the Copyright Office itself should have recognized at the time registration was made, the Office will take appropriate measures to rectify its error.

(b) Persons entitled to file an application for supplementary registration; grounds of application.

(1) Supplementary registration can be made only if a basic copyright registration for the same work has already been completed. After a basic registration has been completed, any author or other copyright claimant of the work, or the owner of any exclusive right in the work, or the duly authorized agent of any such author, other claimant, or owner, who wishes to correct or amplify the information given in the basic registration for the work may file an application for supplementary registration.1

1 If the person who, or on whose behalf, an application for supplementary registration is submitted is the same as the person identified as the copyright claimant in the basic registration, the Copyright Office will place a note referring to the supplementary registration on its records of the basic registration.

(2) Supplementary registration may be made either to correct or to amplify the information in a basic registration. For the purposes of this section:

(i) A correction is appropriate if information in the basic registration was incorrect at the time that basic registration was made, and the error is not one that the Copyright Office itself should have recognized;

(ii) An amplification is appropriate:

(A) To supplement or clarify the information that was required by the application for the basic registration and should have been provided, such as the identity of a co-author or co-claimant, but was omitted at the time the basic registration was made, or

(B) To reflect changes in facts, other than those relating to transfer, license, or ownership of rights in the work, that have occurred since the basic registration was made.

(iii) Supplementary registration is not appropriate:

(A) As an amplification, to reflect a change in ownership that occurred on or after the effective date of the basic registration or to reflect the division, allocation, licensing or transfer of rights in a work; or

(B) To correct errors in statements or notices on the copies of phonorecords of a work, or to reflect changes in the content of a work; and

(iv) Where a basic renewal registration has been made for a work during the last year of the relevant first-term copyright, supplementary registration to correct the renewal claimant or basis of claim or to add a renewal claimant is ordinarily possible only if the application for supplementary registration and fee are received in the Copyright Office within the last year of the relevant first-term copyright. If the error or omission in a basic renewal registration is extremely minor, and does not involve the identity of the renewal claimant or the legal basis of the claim, supplementary registration may be made at any time. In an exceptional case, however, supplementary registration may be made to correct the name of the renewal claimant and the legal basis of the claim at any time if clear, convincing, objective documentation is submitted to the Copyright Office which proves that an inadvertent error was made in failing to designate the correct living statutory renewal claimant in the basic renewal registration.

(c) Form and content of application for supplementary registration.

(1) An application for supplementary registration shall be made on a form prescribed by the Copyright Office, shall be accompanied by the appropriate fee identified in §201.3(c) and shall contain the following information:

(i) The title of the work as it appears in the basic registration, including previous or alternative titles if they appear;

(ii) The registration number of the basic registration;

(iii) The year when the basic registration was completed;

(iv) The name or names of the author or authors of the work, and the copyright claimant or claimants in the work, as they appear in the basic registration;

(v) In the case of a correction:

(A) The line number and heading or description of the part of the basic registration where the error occurred;

(B) A transcription of the erroneous information as it appears in the basic registration;

(C) A statement of the correct information as it should have appeared; and

(D) If desired, an explanation of the error or its correction;

(vi) In the case of an amplification:

(A) The line number and heading or description of the part of the basic registration where the information to be amplified appears;

(B) A clear and succinct statement of the information to be added; and

(C) If desired, an explanation of the amplification;

(vii) The name and address:

(A) To which correspondence concerning the application should be sent; and

(B) To which the certificate of supplementary registration should be mailed; and

(viii) The certification shall consist of:

(A) The handwritten signature of the author, other copyright claimant, or owner of exclusive right(s) in the work, or of the duly authorized agent of such author, other claimant or owner (who shall also be identified);

(B) The typed or printed name of the person whose signature appears, and the date of signature; and

(C) A statement that the person signing the application is the author, other copyright claimant, or owner of exclusive right(s) in the work, or the authorized agent of such author, other claimant, or owner, and that the statements made in the application are correct to the best of that person's knowledge.

(2) The form prescribed by the Copyright Office for the foregoing purposes is designated “Application for Supplementary Copyright Registration (Form CA)”. Copies of the form are available free upon request to the Copyright Information Section, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20559-6000.

(3) Copies, phonorecords or supporting documents cannot be made part of the record of a supplementary registration and should not be submitted with the application.

(d) Effect of supplementary registration.

(1) When a supplementary registration is completed, the Copyright Office will assign it a new registration number in the appropriate class, and issue a certificate of supplementary registration under that number.

(2) As provided in section 408(d) of title 17, the information contained in a supplementary registration augments but does not supersede that contained in the basic registration. The basic registration will not be expunged or cancelled.

(Pub. L. 94–553; 17 U.S.C. 205, 408(d), 601(b), 702, 708)

[43 FR 773, Jan. 4, 1978, as amended at 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 57 FR 60482, Dec. 21, 1992; 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 62 FR 35421, July 1, 1997; 63 FR 59236, Nov. 3, 1998; 63 FR 66042, Dec. 1, 1998; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 65 FR 48914, Aug. 10, 2000; 66 FR 34372, June 28, 2001; 73 FR 37838, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.6   Payment and refund of Copyright Office fees.

(a) In general. All fees sent to the Copyright Office should be in the form of a money order, check or bank draft payable to the Register of Copyrights. Coin or currency sent to the Office in letters or packages will be at the remitter's risk. Remittances from foreign countries should be in the form of an International Money Order or Bank Draft payable and immediately negotiable in the United States for the full amount of the fee required. Uncertified checks are accepted subject to collection. Where the statutory fee is submitted in the form of a check, the registration of the copyright claim or other record made by the Office is provisional until payment in money is received. In the event the fee is not paid, the registration or other record shall be expunged.

(b) Deposit accounts. Persons or firms having a considerable amount of business with the Copyright Office may, for their own convenience, prepay copyright expenses by establishing a Deposit Account.

(c) Refunds. Money remitted to the Copyright Office for original, basic, supplementary or renewal registration will not be refunded if the claim is rejected because the material deposited does not constitute copyrightable subject matter or because the claim is invalid for any other reason. Payments made by mistake or in excess of the statutory fee will be refunded, but amounts of $50 or less will not be refunded unless specifically requested, and refunds of less than $2 may be made in postage stamps. Before making any refund for fees remitted in relation to nonregistration copyright services, the Copyright Office shall deduct an administrative processing fee in an amount equivalent to one hour of the requested service, or the minimum fee set by statute for the service.

(d) Return of deposit copies. Copies of works deposited in the Copyright Office pursuant to law are either retained in the Copyright Office, transferred for the permanent collections or other uses of the Library of Congress, or disposed of according to law. When an application is rejected, the Copyright Office reserves the right to retain the deposited copies.

(17 U.S.C. 702, 708(c))

[24 FR 4955, June 18, 1959, as amended at 46 FR 25442, May 7, 1981; 56 FR 7813, Feb. 26, 1991; 59 FR 38371, July 28, 1994]

§ 201.7   Cancellation of completed registrations.

(a) Definition. Cancellation is an action taken by the Copyright Office whereby either the registration is eliminated on the ground that the registration is invalid under the applicable law and regulations, or the registration number is eliminated and a new registration is made under a different class and number.

(b) General policy. The Copyright Office will cancel a completed registration only in those cases where:

(1) It is clear that no registration should have been made because the work does not constitute copyrightable subject matter or fails to satisfy the other legal and formal requirements for obtaining copyright;

(2) Registration may be authorized but the application, deposit material, or fee does not meet the requirements of the law and Copyright Office regulations, and the Office is unable to get the defect corrected; or

(3) An existing registration in the wrong class is to be replaced by a new registration in the correct class.

(c) Circumstances under which a registration will be cancelled.

(1) Where the Copyright Office becomes aware after registration that a work is not copyrightable, either because the authorship is de minimis or the work does not contain authorship subject to copyright, the registration will be cancelled. The copyright claimant will be notified by correspondence of the proposed cancellation and the reasons therefor, and be given 30 days, from the date the Copyright Office letter is mailed, to show cause in writing why the cancellation should not be made. If the claimant fails to respond within the 30 day period, or if the Office after considering the response, determines that the registration was made in error and not in accordance with title 17 U.S.C., Chapters 1 through 8, the registration will be cancelled.

(2) When a check received in payment of a registration fee is returned to the Copyright Office marked “insufficient funds” or is otherwise uncollectible the Copyright Office will immediately cancel any registration(s) for which the dishonored check was submitted and will notify the remitter the registration has been cancelled because the check was returned as uncollectible.

(3) Where registration is made in the wrong class, the Copyright Office will cancel the first registration, replace it with a new registration in the correct class, and issue a corrected certificate.

(4) Where registration has been made for a work which appears to be copyrightable but after registration the Copyright Office becomes aware that, on the administrative record before the Office, the statutory requirements have apparently not been satisfied, or that information essential to registration has been omitted entirely from the application or is questionable, or correct deposit material has not been deposited, the Office will correspond with the copyright claimant in an attempt to secure the required information or deposit material or to clarify the information previously given on the application. If the Copyright Office receives no reply to its correspondence within 30 days of the date the letter is mailed, or the response does not resolve the substantive defect, the registration will be cancelled. The correspondence will include the reason for the cancellation. The following are instances where a completed registration will be cancelled unless the substantive defect in the registration can be cured:

(i) Eligibility for registration has not been established;

(ii) A work published before March 1, 1989, was registered more than 5 years after the date of first publication and the deposit copy or phonorecord does not contain a statutory copyright notice;

(iii) The deposit copies or phonorecords of a work published before January 1, 1978 do not contain a copyright notice or the notice is defective;

(iv) A renewal claim was registered after the statutory time limits for registration had apparently expired;

(v) The application and copy(s) or phonorecord(s) do not match each other and the Office cannot locate a copy or phonorecord as described in the application elsewhere in the Copyright Office or the Library of Congress;

(vi) The application for registration does not identify a copyright claimant or it appears from the transfer statement on the application or elsewhere that the “claimant” named in the application does not have the right to claim copyright;

(vii) A claim to copyright is based on material added to a preexisting work and a reading of the application in its totality indicates that there is no copyrightable new material on which to base a claim;

(viii) A work subject to the manufacturing provisions of the Act of 1909 was apparently published in violation of those provisions;

(ix) For a work published after January 1, 1978, the only claimant given on the application was deceased on the date the application was certified;

(x) A work is not anonymous or pseudonymous and statements on the application and/or copy vary so much that the author cannot be identified; and

(xi) Statements on the application conflict or are so unclear that the claimant cannot be adequately identified.

(d) Minor substantive errors. Where a registration includes minor substantive errors or omissions which would generally have been rectified before registration, the Copyright Office will attempt to rectify the error through correspondence with the remitter. Except in those cases enumerated in paragraph (c) of this section, if the Office is unable for any reason to obtain the correct information or deposit copy, the registration record will be annotated to state the nature of the informality and show that the Copyright Office attempted to correct the registration.

[50 FR 40835, Oct. 7, 1985, as amended at 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 66 FR 34372, June 28, 2001]

§ 201.8   Disruption of postal or other transportation or communication services.

(a) For purposes of 17 U.S.C. 709, when the Register has determined that there is or has been a general disruption or suspension of postal or other transportation or communications services that has delayed the receipt by the Copyright Office of deposits, applications, fees, or any other materials, the Register shall publish an announcement of that determination, stating the date on which the disruption or suspension commenced. The announcement may, if appropriate, limit the means of delivery that are subject to relief pursuant to section 709. Following the cessation of the disruption or suspension of services, the Register shall publish an announcement stating the date on which the disruption or suspension has terminated.

(b) At the request of any person who provides satisfactory evidence that he or she has attempted to deliver a deposit, application, fee or other material to the Copyright Office but that receipt by the Copyright Office was delayed due to a general disruption or suspension of postal or other transportation or communications services, the Register shall assign, as the date of receipt of the deposit, application, fee or other material, the date on which the Register determines the material would have been received but for the disruption or suspension of services, if the deposit, application, fee or other material was actually received in the Copyright Office within one month after the disruption or suspension of services has terminated.

(c) Timing. The request shall be made:

(1) With respect to an application for copyright registration, no earlier than the date on which the claimant receives the certificate of registration and no later than one year after the date on which the claimant receives the certificate of registration; provided, however, that a request may be made prior to receipt of a certificate of registration—

(i) If the Copyright Office has communicated with the claimant relating to the application and the claimant makes the request as part of a response to the communication from the Office; or

(ii) If the Register determines that good cause exists to entertain a request prior to the issuance of a certificate of registration;

(2) With respect to a transfer of copyright ownership or other document submitted for recordation pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 205, no later than one year after the date on which the person submitting the transfer or document receives the certificate of recordation;

(3) With respect to any other material, no later than one year after the date on which the material was actually received in the Copyright Office.

(d) In cases in which a certificate or registration or a certificate of recordation has already been issued, the original certificate must be returned to the Copyright Office along with the request.

(e) For purposes of paragraph (b) of this section, satisfactory evidence shall consist of:

(1) A receipt from the United States Postal Service indicating the date on which the United States Postal Service received material for delivery to the Copyright Office by means of first class mail, Priority Mail or Express Mail;

(2) A receipt from a delivery service such as, or comparable to, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or Airborne Express, indicating the date on which the delivery service received material for delivery to the Copyright Office and

(i) The date on which delivery was to be made to the Copyright Office, or

(ii) The period of time (e.g., overnight, or 2 days) from receipt by the delivery service to the date on which delivery was to be made to the Copyright Office;

(3) Other documentary evidence which the Register deems equivalent to the evidence set forth in paragraphs (e)(1) and (2) of this section; or

(4) A sworn statement from a person with actual knowledge of the facts relating to the attempt to deliver the material to the Copyright Office, setting forth with particularity facts which satisfy the Register that in the absence of the general disruption or suspension of postal or other transportation or communications services, the material would have been received by the Copyright Office by a particular date.

(f) For purposes of paragraph (b) of this section, the Register shall presume that but for the general disruption or suspension of postal or other transportation or communications services,

(1) Materials deposited with the United States Postal Service for delivery by means of first class mail would have been received in the Copyright Office seven days after deposit with the United States Postal Service;

(2) Materials deposited with the United States Postal Service for delivery by means of Priority mail would have been received in the Copyright Office three days after deposit with the United States Postal Service;

(3) Materials deposited with the United States Postal Service for delivery by means of Express mail would have been received in the Copyright Office one day after deposit with the United States Postal Service;

(4) Materials deposited with a delivery service such as, or comparable to, United Parcel Service, Federal Express, or Airborne Express, would have been received in the Copyright Office on the date indicated on the receipt from the delivery service.

(g) Requests pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section shall be addressed to: Chief, Copyright Office Receipt, Analysis and Control Division, Copyright Office, and if delivered by hand they should be brought to the Copyright Information Section, Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial Building, Room 401, First and Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC. If mailed, the request should be addressed to Chief, Receipt, Analysis and Control Division, P.O. Box 71380, Washington, DC 20024–1380.

[66 FR 62944, Dec. 4, 2001; 66 FR 63920, Dec. 11, 2001; 73 FR 37838, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.9   Recordation of agreements between copyright owners and public broadcasting entities.

(a) License agreements voluntarily negotiated between one or more owners of copyright in published nondramatic musical works and published pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, and one or more public broadcasting entities, and terms and rates of royalty payments agreed to among owners of copyright in nondramatic literary works and public broadcasting entities will be filed in the Copyright Office, Licensing Division by recordation upon payment of the fee prescribed by §201.3. The document submitted for recordation shall meet the following requirements:

(1) It shall be an original instrument of agreement; or it shall be a legible photocopy or other full-size facsimile reproduction of an original, accompanied by a certification signed by at least one of the parties to the agreement, or an authorized representative of that party, that the reproduction is a true copy;

(2) It shall bear the signatures of all persons identified as parties to the agreement, or of their authorized agents or representatives;

(3) It shall be complete on its face, and shall include any schedules, appendixes, or other attachments referred to in the instrument as being part of it; and

(4) It shall be clearly identified, in its body or a covering transmittal letter, as being submitted for recordation under 17 U.S.C. 118.

(b) The fee for recordation of a voluntary license agreement under this section is the basic recordation fee as prescribed in §201.3(c).

(c) The date of recordation is the date when all of the elements required for recordation, including the prescribed fee, have been received in the Copyright Office. A document is filed in the Copyright Office, and a filing in the Copyright Office takes place on the date of recordation. After recordation the document is returned to the sender with a certificate of record.

(17 U.S.C. 207 and 17 U.S.C. 118, 702, 708(11), as amended by Pub. L. 94–553)

[42 FR 16777, Mar. 30, 1977, as amended at 46 FR 33249, June 29, 1981; 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999]

§ 201.10   Notices of termination of transfers and licenses.



This section covers notices of termination of transfers and licenses under sections 203, 304(c) and 304(d) of title 17, of the United States Code. A termination under section 304(d) is possible only if no termination was made under section 304(c), and federal copyright was originally secured on or between January 1, 1923, and October 26, 1939.

(a) Form. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving notices of termination.

(b) Contents.

(1) A notice of termination covering the extended renewal term under sections 304(c) and 304(d) of title 17, U.S.C., must include a clear identification of each of the following:

(i) Whether the termination is made under section 304(c) or under section 304(d);

(ii) The name of each grantee whose rights are being terminated, or the grantee's successor in title, and each address at which service of the notice is being made;

(iii) The title and the name of at least one author of, and the date copyright was originally secured in, each work to which the notice of termination applies; and, if possible and practicable, the original copyright registration number;

(iv) A brief statement reasonably identifying the grant to which the notice of termination applies;

(v) The effective date of termination;

(vi) If termination is made under section 304(d), a statement that termination of renewal term rights under section 304(c) has not been previously exercised; and

(vii) In the case of a termination of a grant executed by a person or persons other than the author, a listing of the surviving person or persons who executed the grant. In the case of a termination of a grant executed by one or more of the authors of the work where the termination is exercised by the successors of a deceased author, a listing of the names and relationships to that deceased author of all of the following, together with specific indication of the person or persons executing the notice who constitute more than one-half of that author's termination interest: That author's surviving widow or widower; and all of that author's surviving children; and, where any of that author's children are dead, all of the surviving children of any such deceased child of that author; however, instead of the information required by this paragraph (vii), the notice may contain both of the following:

(A) A statement of as much of such information as is currently available to the person or persons signing the notice, with a brief explanation of the reasons why full information is or may be lacking; together with

(B) A statement that, to the best knowledge and belief of the person or persons signing the notice, the notice has been signed by all persons whose signature is necessary to terminate the grant under section 304 of title 17, U.S.C., or by their duly authorized agents.

(2) A notice of termination of an exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of copyright or of any right under a copyright, executed by the author on or after January 1, 1978, under section 203 of title 17, U.S.C., must include a clear identification of each of the following:

(i) A statement that the termination is made under section 203;

(ii) The name of each grantee whose rights are being terminated, or the grantee's successor in title, and each address at which service of the notice is being made;

(iii) The date of execution of the grant being terminated and, if the grant covered the right of publication of a work, the date of publication of the work under the grant;

(iv) For each work to which the notice of termination applies, the title of the work and the name of the author or, in the case of a joint work, the authors who executed the grant being terminated; and, if possible and practicable, the original copyright registration number;

(v) A brief statement reasonably identifying the grant to which the notice of termination applies;

(vi) The effective date of termination; and

(vii) In the case of a termination of a grant executed by one or more of the authors of the work where the termination is exercised by the successors of a deceased author, a listing of the names and relationships to that deceased author of all of the following, together with specific indication of the person or persons executing the notice who constitute more than one-half of that author's termination interest: That author's surviving widow or widower; and all of that author's surviving children; and, where any of that author's children are dead, all of the surviving children of any such deceased child of that author; however, instead of the information required by this paragraph (b)(2)(vii), the notice may contain both of the following:

(A) A statement of as much of such information as is currently available to the person or persons signing the notice, with a brief explanation of the reasons why full information is or may be lacking; together with

(B) A statement that, to the best knowledge and belief of the person or persons signing the notice, the notice has been signed by all persons whose signature is necessary to terminate the grant under section 203 of title 17, U.S.C., or by their duly authorized agents.

(3) Clear identification of the information specified by paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) of this section requires a complete and unambiguous statement of facts in the notice itself, without incorporation by reference of information in other documents or records.

(c) Signature.

(1) In the case of a termination of a grant under section 304(c) or section 304(d) executed by a person or persons other than the author, the notice shall be signed by all of the surviving person or persons who executed the grant, or by their duly authorized agents.

(2) In the case of a termination of a grant under section 304(c) or section 304(d) executed by one or more of the authors of the work, the notice as to any one author's share shall be signed by that author or by his or her duly authorized agent. If that author is dead, the notice shall be signed by the number and proportion of the owners of that author's termination interest required under section 304(c) or section 304(d), whichever applies, of title 17, U.S.C., or by their duly authorized agents, and shall contain a brief statement of their relationship or relationships to that author.

(3) In the case of a termination of a grant under section 203 executed by one or more of the authors of the work, the notice shall be signed by each author who is terminating the grant or by his or her duly authorized agent. If that author is dead, the notice shall be signed by the number and proportion of the owners of that author's termination interest required under section 203 of title 17, U.S.C., or by their duly authorized agents, and shall contain a brief statement of their relationship or relationships to that author.

(4) Where a signature is by a duly authorized agent, it shall clearly identify the person or persons on whose behalf the agent is acting.

(5) The handwritten signature of each person effecting the termination shall either be accompanied by a statement of the full name and address of that person, typewritten or printed legibly by hand, or shall clearly correspond to such a statement elswhere in the notice.

(d) Service.

(1) The notice of termination shall be served upon each grantee whose rights are being terminated, or the grantee's successor in title, by personal service, or by first-class mail sent to an address which, after a reasonable investigation, is found to be the last known address of the grantee or successor in title.

(2) The service provision of section 203, section 304(c) or section 304(d) of title 17, U.S.C., whichever applies, will be satisfied if, before the notice of termination is served, a reasonable investigation is made by the person or persons executing the notice as to the current ownership of the rights being terminated, and based on such investigation:

(i) If there is no reason to believe that such rights have been transferred by the grantee to a successor in title, the notice is served on the grantee; or

(ii) If there is reason to believe that such rights have been transferred by the grantee to a particular successor in title, the notice is served on such successor in title.

(3) For purposes of paragraph (d)(2) of this section, a reasonable investigation includes, but is not limited to, a search of the records in the Copyright Office; in the case of a musical composition with respect to which performing rights are licensed by a performing rights society, a “reasonable investigation” also includes a report from that performing rights society identifying the person or persons claiming current ownership of the rights being terminated.

(4) Compliance with the provisions of paragraphs (d)(2) and (d)(3) of this section will satisfy the service requirements of section 203, section 304(c), or section 304(d) of title 17, U.S.C., whichever applies. However, as long as the statutory requirements have been met, the failure to comply with the regulatory provisions of paragraph (d)(2) or (d)(3) of this section will not affect the validity of the service.

(e) Harmless errors.

(1) Harmless errors in a notice that do not materially affect the adequacy of the information required to serve the purposes of section 203, section 304(c), or section 304(d) of title 17, U.S.C., whichever applies, shall not render the notice invalid.

(2) Without prejudice to the general rule provided by paragraph (e)(1) of this section, errors made in giving the date or registration number referred to in paragraph (b)(1)(iii), (b)(2)(iii), or (b)(2)(iv) of this section, or in complying with the provisions of paragraph (b)(1)(vii) or (b)(2)(vii) of this section, or in describing the precise relationships under paragraph (c)(2) or (c)(3) of this section, shall not affect the validity of the notice if the errors were made in good faith and without any intention to deceive, mislead, or conceal relevant information.

(f) Recordation.

(1) A copy of the notice of termination will be recorded in the Copyright Office upon payment of the fee prescribed by paragraph (2) of this paragraph (f) and upon compliance with the following provisions:

(i) The copy submitted for recordation shall be a complete and exact duplicate of the notice of termination as served and shall include the actual signature or signatures, or a reproduction of the actual signature or signatures, appearing on the notice; where separate copies of the same notice were served on more than one grantee or successor in title, only one copy need be submitted for recordation; and

(ii) The copy submitted for recordation shall be accompanied by a statement setting forth the date on which the notice was served and the manner of service, unless such information is contained in the notice. In instances where service is made by first-class mail, the date of service shall be the day the notice of termination was deposited with the United States Postal Service.

(2) The fee for recordation of a document is prescribed in §201.3(c).

(3) The date of recordation is the date when all of the elements required for recordation, including the prescribed fee and, if required, the statement referred to in paragraph (f)(1)(ii) of this section, have been received in the Copyright Office. After recordation, the document, including any accompanying statement, is returned to the sender with a certificate of record.

(4) Recordation of a notice of termination by the Copyright Office is without prejudice to any party claiming that the legal and formal requirements for issuing a valid notice have not been met.

(Pub. L. 94–553; 17 U.S.C. 304(c), 702, 708(11))

[42 FR 45920, Sept. 13, 1977, as amended at 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999; 64 FR 36574, July 7, 1999; 66 FR 34372, June 28, 2001; 67 FR 69136, Nov. 15, 2002; 67 FR 78176, Dec. 23, 2002; 68 FR 16959, Apr. 8, 2003; 71 FR 36486, June 27, 2006]

§ 201.11   Satellite carrier statements of account covering statutory licenses for secondary transmissions.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules pertaining to the deposit of Statements of Account and royalty fees in the Copyright Office as required by the satellite carrier license of section 119(b)(1) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 103–369, in order that certain secondary transmissions by satellite carriers for private home viewing be subject to statutory licensing.

(b) Definitions.

(1) The terms distributor, network station, private home viewing, satellite carrier, subscriber, superstation, and unserved household have the meanings set forth in section 119(d) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 103–369.

(2) The terms primary transmission and secondary transmission have the meanings set forth in section 111(f) of title 17 of the United States Code.

(c) Accounting periods and deposit.

(1) Statements of Account shall cover semiannual accounting periods of January 1 through June 30, and July 1 through December 31, and shall be deposited in the Copyright Office, together with the total statutory royalty fee or the confirmed arbitration royalty fee for such accounting periods as prescribed by section 119(b)(1)(B) and (c)(3) of title 17, by not later than July 30, if the Statement of Account covers the January 1 through June 30 accounting period, and by not later than the immediately following January 30, if the Statement of Account covers the July 1 through December 31 accounting period.

(2) Upon receiving a Statement of Account and royalty fee, the Copyright Office will make an official record of the actual date when such statement and fee were physically received in the Copyright Office. Thereafter, the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office will examine the statement and fee for obvious errors or omissions appearing on the face of the documents, and will require that any such obvious errors or omissions be corrected before final processing of the documents is completed. If, as the result of communications between the Copyright Office and the satellite carrier, an additional fee is deposited or changes or additions are made in the Statement of Account, the date that additional deposit or information was actually received in the Office will be added to the official record of the case. However, completion by the Copyright Office of the final processing of a Statement of Account and royalty fee deposit shall establish only the fact of such completion and the date or dates of receipt shown in the official record. It shall in no case be considered a determination that the Statement of Account was, in fact, properly prepared and accurate, that the correct amount of the royalty fee had been deposited, that the statutory time limits for filing had been met, or that any other requirements to qualify for a statutory license have been satisfied.

(3) Statements of Account and royalty fees received before the end of the particular accounting period they purport to cover will not be processed by the Copyright Office. Statements of Account and royalty fees received after the filing deadlines of July 30 or January 30, respectively, will be accepted for whatever legal effect they may have, if any.

(4) In the Register's discretion, four years after the close of any calendar year, the Register may close out the royalty payments account for that calendar year, and may treat any funds remaining in such account and any subsequent deposits that would otherwise be attributable to that calendar year as attributable to the succeeding calendar year.

(d) Forms.

(1) Each Statement of Account shall be furnished on an appropriate form prescribed by the Copyright Office, and shall contain the information required by that form and its accompanying instructions. Computation of the copyright royalty fee shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in the forms. Copies of Statement of Account forms are available free upon request to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, Licensing Division, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20557–6400.

(2) The form prescribed by the Copyright Office is designated “Statement of Account for Secondary Transmissions by Satellite Carriers to Home Viewers.”

(e) Contents. Each Statement of Account shall contain the following information:

(1) A clear designation of the accounting period covered by the Statement.

(2) The designation “Owner” followed by:

(i) The full legal name of the satellite carrier. If the owner is a partnership, the name of the partnership is to be followed by the name of at least one individual partner;

(ii) Any other name or names under which the owner conducts the business of the satellite carrier; and

(iii) The full mailing address of the owner. Ownership, other names under which the owner conducts the business of the satellite carrier, and the owner's mailing address shall reflect facts existing on the last day of the accounting period covered by the Statement of Account.

(3) The designation “Primary Transmitters,” followed by the call signs, broadcast channel numbers, station locations (city and state of license), and a notation whether that primary transmitter is a “superstation” or “network station” transmitted to any or all of the subscribers of the satellite carrier during any portion of the period covered by the Statement of Account.

(4) The designation “Superstations,” followed by:

(i) The call sign of each superstation signal carried for each month of the period covered by the Statement, and

(ii) The total number of subscribers to each superstation for each month of the period covered by the Statement. This number is the number of subscribers to each superstation receiving the retransmission on the last day of each month.

(5) The designation “Network Stations,” followed by:

(i) The call sign of each network station carried for each month of the period covered by the Statement, and

(ii) The total number of subscribers to each network station for each month of the period covered by the Statement. This number is the number of subscribers to each network station receiving the retransmission on the last day of each month.

(6) The total number of subscribers to each superstation for the six-month period covered by the Statement multiplied by the statutory royalty rate prescribed in §258.3 of this chapter.

(7) The total number of subscribers to each network station for the six-month period covered by the Statement multiplied by the statutory royalty rate prescribed in §258.3 of this chapter.

(8) The name, address, business title, and telephone number of the individual or individuals to be contacted for information or questions concerning the content of the Statement of Account.

(9) The handwritten signature of:

(i) The owner of the satellite carrier or a duly authorized agent of the owner, if the owner is not a partnership or a corporation; or

(ii) A partner, if the owner is a partnership; or

(iii) An officer of the corporation, if the owner is a corporation. The signature shall be accompanied by:

(A) The printed or typewritten name of the person signing the Statement of Account;

(B) The date of signature;

(C) If the owner of the satellite carrier is a partnership or a corporation, by the title or official position held in the partnership or corporation by the person signing the Statement of Account;

(D) A certification of the capacity of the person signing; and

(E) The following statement:

I, the undersigned Owner or Agent of the Satellite Carrier, or Officer or Partner, if the Satellite Carrier is a Corporation or Partnership, have examined this Statement of Account and hereby declare under penalty of law that all statements of fact contained herein are true, complete, and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, and are made in good faith.
(18 U.S.C., section 1001 (1986))

(f) Royalty fee payment .

(1) All royalty fees shall be paid by a single electronic funds transfer and payment must be received in the designated bank by the filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. The following information shall be provided as part of the EFT and/or as part of the remittance advice as provided for in circulars issued by the Copyright Office:

(i) Remitter's name and address;

(ii) Name of a contact person, telephone number and extension, and email address;

(iii) The actual or anticipated date that the EFT will be transmitted;

(iv) Type of royalty payment ( i.e. , satellite);

(v) Total amount submitted via the EFT;

(vi) Total amount to be paid by year and period;

(vii) Number of Statements of Account that the EFT covers;

(viii) ID numbers assigned by the Licensing Division;

(ix) Legal name of the owner for each Statement of Account.

(2) The remittance advice shall be attached to the Statement(s) of Account. In addition, a copy of the remittance advice shall be emailed or sent by facsimile to the Licensing Division.

(3) The Office may waive the requirement for payment by electronic funds transfer as set forth in paragraph (f)(1) of this section. To obtain a waiver, the remitter shall submit to the Licensing Division at least 60 days prior to the royalty fee due date a certified statement setting forth the reasons explaining why payment by an electronic funds transfer would be virtually impossible or, alternatively, why it would impose a financial or other hardship on the remitter. The certified statement must be signed by a duly authorized representative of the entity making the payment. A waiver shall cover only a single payment period. Failure to obtain a waiver may result in the remittance being returned to the remitter.

(g) Copies of statements of account. A licensee shall file an original and one copy of the statement of account with the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office.

(h) Corrections, supplemental payments, and refunds.

(1) Upon compliance with the procedures and within the time limits set forth in paragraph (h)(3) of this section, corrections to Statements of Account will be placed on record, supplemental royalty fee payments will be received for deposit, or refunds will be issued, in the following cases:

(i) Where, with respect to the accounting period covered by a Statement of Account, any of the information given in the Statement filed in the Copyright Office is incorrect or incomplete; or

(ii) Where calculation of the royalty fee payable for a particular accounting period was incorrect, and the amount deposited in the Copyright Office for that period was either too high or too low.

(2) Corrections to Statements of Account will not be placed on record, supplemental royalty fee payments will not be received for deposit, and refunds will not be issued, where the information in the Statements of Account, the royalty fee calculations, or the payments were correct as of the date on which the accounting period ended, but changes (for example, addition or deletion of a signal) took place later.

(3) Requests that corrections to a Statement of Account be placed on record, that fee payments be accepted, or requests for the issuance of refunds, shall be made only in the cases mentioned in paragraph (h)(1) of this section. Such requests shall be addressed to the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office, and shall meet the following conditions:

(i) The request must be in writing, must clearly identify its purpose, and, in the case of a request for a refund, must be received in the Copyright Office before the expiration of 30 days from the last day of the applicable Statement of Account filing period, or before the expiration of 30 days from the date of receipt at the Copyright Office of the royalty payment that is the subject of the request, whichever time period is longer. A telegraphic or similar unsigned communication will be considered to meet this requirement if it clearly identifies the basis of the request, if it is received in the Copyright Office within the required 30-day period, and if a written request meeting all the conditions of this paragraph (h)(3) is also received in the Copyright Office within 14 days after the end of such 30-day period:

(ii) The Statement of Account to which the request pertains must be sufficiently identified in the request (by inclusion of the name of the owner of the satellite carrier and the accounting period in question) so that it can be readily located in the records of the Copyright Office;

(iii) The request must contain a clear statement of the facts on which it is based and provide a clear basis on which a refund may be granted, in accordance with the following procedures:

(A) In the case of a request filed under paragraph (h)(1)(i) of this section, where the information given in the Statement of Account is incorrect or incomplete, the request must clearly identify the erroneous or incomplete information and provide the correct or additional information:

(B) In the case of a request filed under paragraph (h)(1)(ii) of this section, where the royalty fee was miscalculated and the amount deposited in the Copyright Office was either too high or too low, the request must be accompanied by an affidavit under the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, or a statement in accordance with section 1746 of title 28 of the United States Code, made and signed in accordance with paragraph (e)(9) of this section. The affidavit or statement shall describe the reasons why the royalty fee was improperly calculated and include a detailed analysis of the proper royalty calculation.

(iv)

(A) All requests filed under this paragraph (h) must be accompanied by a filing fee in the amount prescribed in §201.3(e) of this part for each Statement of Account involved. Payment of this fee may be in the form of a personal or company check, or of a certified check, cashier's check or money order, payable to: Register of Copyrights. No request will be processed until the appropriate filing fees are received.

(B) All requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be received for deposit under this paragraph (h) must be accompanied by a remittance in the full amount of such fee. Payment of the supplemental royalty fee must be in the form of certified check, cashier's check, or money order, payable to: Register of Copyrights; or electronic payment. No such request will be processed until an acceptable remittance in the full amount of the supplemental royalty fee has been received.

(v) All requests submitted under this paragraph (h) must be signed by the satellite carrier owner named in the Statement of Account, or the duly authorized agent of the owner, in accordance with paragraph (e)(9) of this section.

(vi) A request for a refund is not necessary where the Licensing Division, during its examination of a Statement of Account or related document, discovers an error that has resulted in a royalty overpayment. In this case, the Licensing Division will forward the royalty refund to the satellite carrier owner named in the Statement of Account without regard to the time limitations provided for in paragraph (h)(3)(i) of this section.

(4) Following final processing, all requests submitted under this paragraph (h) will be filed with the original Statement of Account in the records of the Copyright Office. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be considered to relieve satellite carriers from their full obligations under title 17 of the United States Code, and the filing of a correction or supplemental payment shall have only such effect as may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(i) Interest .

(1) Royalty fee payments submitted as a result of late or amended filings will include interest. Interest will begin to accrue beginning on the first day after the close of the period for filing statements of account for all underpayments or late payments of royalties for the satellite carrier statutory license for secondary transmissions for private home viewing and viewing in commercial establishments occurring within that accounting period. The accrual period shall end on the date the electronic payment submitted by a satellite carrier is received by the Copyright Office. In cases where a waiver of the electronic funds transfer requirement is approved by the Copyright Office, and royalties payments are either late or underpaid, the accrual period shall end on the date the payment is postmarked. If the payment is not received by the Copyright Office within five business days of its date, then the accrual period shall end on the date of the actual receipt by the Copyright Office.

(2)

(i) The interest rate applicable to a specific accounting period beginning with the 1992/2 period shall be the Current Value of Funds Rate, as established by section 8025.40 of the Treasury Financial Manual and published in the Federal Register , in effect on the first business day after the close of the filing deadline for that accounting period. Satellite carriers wishing to obtain the interest rate for a specific accounting period may do so by consulting the Federal Register for the applicable Current Value of Funds Rate, or by contacting the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office.

(ii) The interest rate applicable to a specific accounting period earlier than the 1992/2 period shall be the rate fixed by the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office pursuant to 37 CFR 201.11(h) in effect on June 30, 1992.

(3) Interest is not required to be paid on any royalty underpayment or late payment from a particular accounting period if the interest charge is less than or equal to five dollars ($5.00).

[54 FR 27877, July 3, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 49998, Dec. 4, 1990; 56 FR 29589, June 28, 1991; 57 FR 61834, Dec. 29, 1992; 59 FR 67635, Dec. 30, 1994; 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 60 FR 57937, Nov. 24, 1995; 63 FR 30635, June 5, 1998; 64 FR 36574, July 7, 1999; 70 FR 30366, May 26, 2005; 70 FR 38022, July 1, 2005; 71 FR 45739, Aug. 10, 2006; 72 FR 33691, June 19, 2007; 73 FR 29072, May 20, 2008]

§ 201.12   Recordation of certain contracts by cable systems located outside of the forty-eight contiguous States.

(a) Written, nonprofit contracts providing for the equitable sharing of costs of videotapes and their transfer, as identified in section 111(e)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, will be filed in the Copyright Office Licensing Division by recordation upon payment of the prescribed fee. The document submitted for recordation shall meet the following requirements:

(1) It shall be an original instrument of contract; or it shall be a legible photocopy or other full-size facsimile reproduction of an original, accompanied by a certification signed by at least one of the parties to the contract, or an authorized representative of that party, that the reproduction is a true copy;

(2) It shall bear the signatures of all persons identified as parties to the contract, or of their authorized agents or representatives;

(3) It shall be complete on its face, and shall include any schedules, appendixes, or other attachments referred to in the instrument as being part of it; and

(4) It shall be clearly identified, in its body or a covering transmittal letter, as being submitted for recordation under 17 U.S.C. 111(e).

(b) The fee for recordation of a document is prescribed in §201.3.

(c) The date of recordation is the date when all of the elements required for recordation, including the prescribed fee, have been received in the Copyright Office. A document is filed in the Copyright Office and a filing in the Copyright Office takes place on the date of recordation. After recordation the document is returned to the sender with a certificate of record.

(Pub. L. 94–553; 17 U.S.C. 111, 702, 708(11))

[42 FR 53961, Oct. 4, 1977, as amended at 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999]

§ 201.13   Notices of objection to certain noncommercial performances of nondramatic literary or musical works.

(a) Definitions.

(1) A Notice of Objection is a notice, as required by section 110(4) of title 17 of the United States Code as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, to be served as a condition of preventing the noncommercial performance of a nondramatic literary or musical work under certain circumstances.

(2) For purposes of this section, the copyright owner of a nondramatic literary or musical work is the author of the work (including, in the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared), or a person or organization that has obtained ownership of the exclusive right, initially owned by the author of performance of the type referred to in 17 U.S.C. 110(4). If the other requirements of this section are met, a Notice of Objection may cover the works of more than one copyright owner.

(b) Form. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving Notices of Objection.

(c) Contents.

(1) A Notice of Objection must clearly state that the copyright owner objects to the performance, and must include all of the following:

(i) Reference to the statutory authority on which the Notice of Objection is based, either by citation of 17 U.S.C. 110(4) or by a more general characterization or description of that statutory provision;

(ii) The date and place of the performance to which an objection is being made; however, if the exact date or place of a particular performance, or both, are not known to the copyright owner, it is sufficient if the Notice describes whatever information the copyright owner has about the date and place of a particular performance, and the source of that information unless the source was considered private or confidential;

(iii) Clear identification, by title and at least one author, of the particular nondramatic literary or musical work or works, to the performance of which the copyright owner thereof is lodging objection; a Notice may cover any number of separately identified copyrighted works owned by the copyright owner or owners serving the objection. Alternatively, a blanket notice, with or without separate identification of certain copyrighted works, and purporting to cover one or more groups of copyrighted works not separately identified by title and author, shall have effect if the conditions specified in paragraph (c)(2) of this section are met; and

(iv) A concise statement of the reasons for the objection.

(2) A blanket notice purporting to cover one or more groups of copyrighted works not separately identified by title and author shall be valid only if all of the following conditions are met:

(i) The Notice shall identify each group of works covered by the blanket notice by a description of any common characteristics distinguishing them from other copyrighted works, such as common author, common copyright owner, common publisher, or common licensing agent;

(ii) The Notice shall identify a particular individual whom the person responsible for the performance can contact for more detailed information about the works covered by the blanket notice and to determine whether a particular work planned for performance is in fact covered by the Notice. Such identification shall include the full name and business and residence addresses of the individual, telephone numbers at which the individual can be reached throughout the period between service of the notice and the performance, and name, addresses, and telephone numbers of another individual to contact during that period in case the first cannot be reached.

(iii) If the copyright owner or owners of all works covered by the blanket notice is not identified in the Notice, the Notice shall include an offer to identify, by name and last known address, the owner or owners of any and all such works, upon request made to the individual referred to in paragraph (c)(2)(ii) of this section.

(3) A Notice of Objection must also include clear and prominent statements explaining that:

(i) A failure to exclude the works identified in the Notice from the performance in question may subject the person responsible for the performance to liability for copyright infringement; and

(ii) The objection is without legal effect if there is no direct or indirect admission charge for the performance, and if the other conditions of 17 U.S.C. 110(4) are met.

(d) Signature and identification.

(1) A Notice of Objection shall be in writing and signed by each copyright owner, or such owner's duly authorized agent, as required by 17 U.S.C. 110(4)(B)(i).

(2) The signature of each owner or agent shall be an actual handwritten signature of an individual, accompanied by the date of signature and the full name, address, and telephone number of that person, typewritten or printed legibly by hand.

(3) If a Notice of Objection is initially served in the form of a telegram or similar communication, as provided by paragraph (e) of this section, the requirement for an individual's handwritten signature shall be considered waived if the further conditions of said paragraph (e) are met.

(e) Service.

(1) A Notice of Objection shall be served on the person responsible for the performance at least seven days before the date of the performance, as provided by 17 U.S.C. 110 (4)(B)(ii).

(2) Service of the Notice may be effected by any of the following methods:

(i) Personal service;

(ii) First-class mail;

(iii) Telegram, cablegram, or similar form of communication, if:

(A) The Notice meets all of the other conditions provided by this section; and

(B) Before the performance takes place, the person responsible for the performance receives written confirmation of the Notice, bearing the actual handwritten signature of each copyright owner or duly authorized agent.

(3) The date of service is the date the Notice of Objection is received by the person responsible for the performance or any agent or employee of that person.

(Pub. L. 94–553; 17 U.S.C. 110(4), 702)

[42 FR 64684, Dec. 28, 1977]

§ 201.14   Warnings of copyright for use by certain libraries and archives.

(a) Definitions.

(1) A Display Warning of Copyright is a notice under paragraphs (d)(2) and (e)(2) of section 108 of title 17 of the United States Code as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. As required by those sections the “Display Warning of Copyright” is to be displayed at the place where orders for copies or phonorecords are accepted by certain libraries and archives.

(2) An Order Warning of Copyright is a notice under paragraphs (d)(2) and (e)(2) of section 108 of title 17 of the United States Code as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. As required by those sections the “Order Warning of Copyright” is to be included on printed forms supplied by certain libraries and archives and used by their patrons for ordering copies or phonorecords.

(b) Contents. A Display Warning of Copyright and an Order Warning of Copyright shall consist of a verbatim reproduction of the following notice, printed in such size and form and displayed in such manner as to comply with paragraph (c) of this section:

notice warning concerning copyright restrictions

The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

(c) Form and manner of use.

(1) A Display Warning of Copyright shall be printed on heavy paper or other durable material in type at least 18 points in size, and shall be displayed prominently, in such manner and location as to be clearly visible, legible, and comprehensible to a casual observer within the immediate vicinity of the place where orders are accepted.

(2) An Order Warning of Copyright shall be printed within a box located prominently on the order form itself, either on the front side of the form or immediately adjacent to the space calling for the name or signature of the person using the form. The notice shall be printed in type size no smaller than that used predominantly throughout the form, and in no case shall the type size be smaller than 8 points. The notice shall be printed in such manner as to be clearly legible, comprehensible, and readily apparent to a casual reader of the form.

(Pub. L. 94–553; 17 U.S.C. 108, 702)

[42 FR 59265, Nov. 16, 1977]

§§ 201.15-201.16   [Reserved]



§ 201.17   Statements of Account covering compulsory licenses for secondary transmissions by cable systems.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules pertaining to the deposit of Statements of Account and royalty fees in the Coypright Office as required by section 111(d)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code in order for secondary transmissions of cable systems to be subject to compulsory licensing.

(b) Definitions.

(1) Gross receipts for the “basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters” include the full amount of monthly (or other periodic) service fees for any and all services or tiers of services which include one or more secondary transmissions of television or radio broadcast signals, for additional set fees, and for converter fees. In no case shall gross receipts be less than the cost of obtaining the signals of primary broadcast transmitters for subsequent retransmission. All such gross receipts shall be aggregated and the distant signal equivalent (DSE) calculations shall be made against the aggregated amount. Gross receipts for secondary transmission services do not include installation (including connection, relocation, disconnection, or reconnection) fees, separate charges for security, alarm or facsimile services, charges for late payments, or charges for pay cable or other program origination services: Provided That, the origination services are not offered in combination with secondary transmission service for a single fee.

(2) A cable system is a facility, located in any State, Territory, Trust Territory, or Possession, that in whole or in part receives signals transmitted or programs broadcast by one or more television broadcast stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and makes secondary transmissions of such signals or programs by wires, cables, microwave, or other communications channels to subscribing members of the public who pay for such service. A system that meets this definition is considered a “cable system” for copyright purposes, even if the FCC excludes it from being considered a “cable system” because of the number or nature of its subscribers or the nature of its secondary transmissions. The Statements of Account and royalty fees to be deposited under §201.17 of this section, shall be recorded and deposited by each individual cable system desiring its secondary transmissions to be subject to compulsory licensing. The owner of each individual cable system on the last day of the accounting period covered by a Statement of Account is responsible for depositing the Statement of Account and remitting the copyright royalty fees. For these purposes, and the purpose of §201.17 of this section, an “individual” cable system is each cable system recognized as a distinct entity under the rules, regulations, and practices of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on the last day of the accounting period covered by a Statement of Account, in the case of the preparation and deposit of a Statement of Account and copyright royalty fee. For these purposes, two or more cable facilities are considered as one individual cable system if the facilities are either:

(i) In contiguous communities under common ownership or control or

(ii) Operating from one headend.

(3) FCC means the Federal Communications Commission.

(4) In the case of cable systems which make secondary transmissions of all available FM radio signals, which signals are not electronically processed by the system as separate and discrete signals, an FM radio signal is “generally receivable” if:

(i) It is usually carried by the system whenever it is received at the system's headend, and

(ii) As a result of monitoring at reasonable times and intervals, it can be expected to be received at the system's headend, with the system's FM antenna, at least three consecutive hours each day at the same time each day, five or more days a week, for four or more weeks during any calendar quarter, with a strength of not less than fifty microvolts per meter measured at the foot of the tower or pole to which the antenna is attached.

(5) The terms primary transmission, secondary transmission, local service area of a primary transmitter, distant signal equivalent, network station, independent station, and noncommercial educational station have the meanings set forth in section 111(f) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553 and Pub. L. 103–369.

(6) A primary transmitter is a “distant” station, for purposes of this section, if the programming of such transmitter is carried by the cable system in whole or in part beyond the local service area of such primary transmitter.

(7) A translator station is, with respect to programs both originally transmitted and retransmitted by it, a primary transmitter for the purposes of this section. A translator station which retransmits the programs of a network station will be considered a network station; a translator station which retransmits the programs of an independent station shall be considered an independent station; and a translator station which retransmits the programs of a noncommercial educational station shall be considered a noncommercial educational station. The determination of whether a translator station should be identified as a “distant” station depends on the local service area of the translator station.

(8) For purposes of this section, the “rules and regulations of the FCC in effect on October 19, 1976,” which permitted a cable system, at its election, to omit the retransmission of a particular program and substitute another program in its place, refers to that portion of former 47 CFR 76.61(b)(2), revised June 25, 1981, and §76.63 (referring to §76.61(b)(2)), deleted June 25, 1981, concerning the substitution of a program that is primarily of local interest to the distant community (e.g., a local news or public affairs program).

(9) For purposes of this section, the “rules and regulations of the FCC”, which require a cable system to omit the retransmission of a particular program and substitute another program in its place, refers to 47 CFR 76.67.

(10) For purposes of this section, a cable system “lacks the activated channel capacity to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized to carry” only if:

(i) All of its activated television channels are used exclusively for the secondary transmission of television signals; and

(ii) The number of primary television transmitters secondarily transmitted by the cable system exceeds the number of its activated television channels.

(c) Accounting periods and deposit.

(1) Statements of Account shall cover semiannual accounting periods of (i) January 1 through June 30, and (ii) July 1 through December 31, and shall be deposited in the Copyright Office, together with the total royalty fee for such accounting periods as prescribed by section 111(d)(1) (B), (C), or (D) of title 17, by not later than the immediately following August 29, if the Statement of Account covers the January 1 through June 30 accounting period, and by not later than the immediately following March 1, if the Statement of Account covers the July 1 through December 31 accounting period.

(2) Upon receiving a Statement of Account and royalty fee, the Copyright Office will make an official record of the actual date when such Statement and fee were physically received in the Copyright Office. Thereafter, the Office will examine the Statement and fee for obvious errors or omissions appearing on the face of the documents, and will require that any such obvious errors or omissions be corrected before final processing of the documents is completed. If, as the result of communications between the Copyright Office and the cable system, an additional fee is deposited or changes or additions are made in the Statement of Account, the date that additional deposit or information was actually received in the Office will be added to the official record of the case. However, completion by the Copyright Office of the final processing of a Statement of Account and royalty fee deposit shall establish only the fact of such completion and the date or dates of receipt shown in the official record. It shall in no case be considered a determination that the Statement of Account was, in fact, properly prepared and accurate, that the correct amount of the royalty fee had been deposited, that the statutory time limits for filing had been met, or that any other requirements to qualify for a compulsory license have been satisfied.

(3) Statements of Account and royalty fees received before the end of the particular accounting period they purport to cover will not be processed by the Copyright Office. Statements of Account and royalty fees received after the filing deadlines of August 29 or March 1, respectively, will be accepted for whatever legal effect they may have, if any.

(4) In the Register's discretion, four years after the close of any calendar year, the Register may, close out the royalty payments account for that calendar year, and may treat any funds remaining in such account and any subsequent deposits that would otherwise be attributable to that calendar year as attributable to the succeeding calendar year.

(d) Forms.

(1) Each Statement of Account shall be furnished on an appropriate form prescribed by the Copyright Office, and shall contain the information required by that form and its accompanying instructions. Computation of distant signal equivalents and the copyright royalty fee shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in the forms. Copies of Statement of Account forms are available free upon request to the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, Licensing Division, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20557–6400.

(2) The forms prescribed by the Copyright Office are designated “Statement of Account for Secondary Transmissions By Cable Systems”:

(i) Form SA1–2—“Short Form” for use by cable systems whose semiannual gross receipts for secondary transmission total less than $527,600; and

(ii) Form SA3—“Long Form” for use by cable systems whose semiannual gross receipts for secondary transmission total $527,600 or more.

(e) Contents. Each Statement of Account shall contain the following information:

(1) A clear designation of the accounting period covered by the Statement.

(2) The designation “Owner,” followed by:

(i) The full legal name of the owner of the cable system. The owner of the cable system is the individual or entity that provides the retransmission service and collects payment from the end user either directly or indirectly through a third party. If the owner is a partnership, the name of the partnership is to be followed by the name of at least one individual partner;

(ii) Any other name or names under which the owner conducts the business of the cable system; and

(iii) The full mailing address of the owner.

Ownership, other names under which the owner conducts the business of the cable system, and the owner's mailing address shall reflect facts existing on the last day of the accounting period covered by the Statement of Account.

(3) The designation “System,” followed by:

(i) Any business or trade names used to identify the business and operation of the system, unless these names have already been given under the designation “Owner”; and

(ii) The full mailing address of the system, unless such address is the same as the address given under the designation “Owner”.

Business or trade names used to identify the business and operation of the system, and the system's mailing address, shall reflect the facts existing on the last day of the accounting period covered by the Statement of Account.

(4) The designation “Area Served”, followed by the name of the community or communities served by the system. For this purpose a “community” is the same as a “community unit” as defined in FCC rules and regulations.

(5) The designation “Channels,” followed by:

(i) The number of channels on which the cable system made secondary transmissions to its subscribers, and

(ii) The cable system's total activated channel capacity, in each case during the period covered by the Statement.

(6) The designation “Secondary Transmission Service: Subscribers and Rates”, followed by:

(i) A brief description of each subscriber category for which a charge is made by the cable system for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters;

(ii) The number of subscribers to the cable system in each such subscriber category; and

(iii) The charge or charges made per subscriber to each such subscriber category for the basic service of providing such secondary transmissions. Standard rate variations within a particular category should be summarized; discounts allowed for advance payment should not be included. For these purposes:

(A) The description, the number of subscribers, and the charge or charges made shall reflect the facts existing on the last day of the period covered by the Statement; and

(B) Each entity (for example, the owner of a private home, the resident of an apartment, the owner of a motel, or the owner of an apartment house) which is charged by the cable system for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions shall be considered one subscriber.

(7) The designation “Gross Receipts”, followed by the gross amount paid to the cable system by subscribers for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmissions during the period covered by the Statement of Account. If the cable system maintains its revenue accounts on an accrual basis, gross receipts for any accounting period includes all such amounts accrued for secondary transmission service furnished during that period, regardless of when accrued:

(i) Less the amount of any bad debts actually written-off during that accounting period, excluding bad debts for secondary transmission service furnished before January 1, 1978;

(ii) Plus the amount of any previously written-off bad debts for secondary transmission service which were actually recovered during that accounting period, excluding bad debt recoveries for secondary transmission service furnished before January 1, 1978.

If the cable system maintains its revenue accounts on a cash basis, gross receipts for any accounting period includes all such amounts actually received by the cable system during that accounting period, excluding amounts paid for secondary transmission service furnished before January 1, 1978; however, amounts received before January 1, 1978, for secondary transmission service furnished after that date, are to be considered as if they had been received during the accounting period in which the service covered by such payments was furnished.

(8) The designation “Services Other Than Secondary Transmissions: Rates,” followed by a description of each package of service which consists solely of services other than secondary transmission services, for which a separate charge was made or established, and which the cable system furnished or made available to subscribers during the period covered by the Statement of Account, together with the amount of such charge. However, no information need be given concerning services furnished at cost. Specific amounts charged for pay cable programming need not be given if the rates are on a variable, per-program basis. (The fact of such variable charge shall be indicated.)

(9) The designation “Primary Transmitters: Television”, followed by an identification of all primary television transmitters whose signals were carried by the cable system during the period covered by the Statement of Account, other than primary transmitters of programs carried by the cable system exclusively pursuant to rules, regulations, or authorizations of the FCC in effect on October 19, 1976, permitting the substitution of signals under certain circumstances, and required to be specially identified by paragraph (e)(11) of this section, together with the information listed below:

(i) The station call sign of the primary transmitter.

(ii) The name of the community to which that primary transmitter is licensed by the FCC (in the case of domestic signals) or with which that primary transmitter is identified (in the case of foreign signals).

(iii) The number of the channel upon which that primary transmitter broadcasts in the community to which that primary transmitter is licensed by the FCC (in the case of domestic signals) or with which that primary transmitter is identified (in the case of foreign signals).

(iv) A designation as to whether that primary transmitter is a “network station”, an “independent station”, or a “noncommercial educational station”.

(v) A designation as to whether that primary transmitter is a “distant” station.

(vi) If that primary transmitter is a “distant” station, a specification of whether the signals of that primary transmitter are carried:

(A) On a part-time basis where full-time carriage is not possible because the cable system lacks the activated channel capacity to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized to carry; or

(B) On any other basis.

If the signals of that primary transmitter are carried on a part-time basis because of lack of activated channel capacity, the Statement shall also include a log showing the dates on which such carriage occurred, and the hours during which such carriage occurred on those dates. Hours of carriage shall be accurate to the nearest quarter-hour, except that, in any case where such part-time carriage extends to the end of the broadcast day of the primary transmitter, an approximate ending hour may be given if it is indicated as an estimate.

(vii) The information indicated by paragraph (e)(9), subclauses (v) and (vi) of this section, is not required to be given by any cable system that appropriately completed Form SA1–2 for the period covered by the Statement.

(viii) Notwithstanding the requirements of this section, where a cable system carried a distant primary transmitter under FCC rules and regulations in effect on October 19, 1976 which permitted carriage of specific network programs on a part-time basis in certain circumstances (former 47 CFR 76.59 (d) (2) and (4), 76.61(e) (2) and (4), and 76.63, referring to §76.61(e) (2) and (4), all of which were deleted June 25, 1981), carriage of that primary transmitter on that basis need not be reported, and that carriage is to be excluded in computing the distant signal equivalent of that primary transmitter.

(10) The designation “Primary Transmitters: Radio”, followed by an identification of primary radio transmitters whose signals were carried by the cable system during the period covered by the Statement of Account, together with the information listed below:

(i) A designation as to whether each primary transmitter was electronically processed by the system as a separate and discrete signal.

(ii) The station call sign of each:

(A) AM primary transmitter;

(B) FM primary transmitter, the signals of which were electronically processed by the system as separate and discrete signals; and

(C) FM primary transmitter carried on an all-band retransmission basis, the signals of which were generally receivable by the system.

(iii) A designation as to whether the primary transmitter is AM or FM.

(iv) The name of the community to which that primary transmitter is licensed by the FCC (in the case of domestic signals) or with which that primary transmitter is identified (in the case of foreign signals).

(11) A special statement and program log, which shall consist of the information indicated below for all nonnetwork television programming that, during the period covered by the Statement, was carried in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter of such programming under (i) rules or regulations of the FCC requiring a cable system to omit the further transmission of a particular program and permitting the substitution of another program in place of the omitted transmission; or (ii) rules, regulations, or authorizations of the FCC in effect on October 19, 1976, permitting a cable system, at its election, to omit the further transmission of a particular program and permitting the substitution of another program in place of the omitted transmission:

(A) The name or title of the substitute program.

(B) Whether the substitute program was transmitted live by its primary transmitter.

(C) The station call sign of the primary transmitter of the substitute program.

(D) The name of the community to which the primary transmitter of the substitute program is licensed by the FCC (in the case of domestic signals) or with which that primary transmitter is identified (in the case of foreign signals).

(E) The date when the secondary transmission of the substitute program occurred, and the hours during which such secondary transmission occurred on that date accurate to the nearest 5 minutes.

(F) A designation as to whether deletion of the omitted program was permitted by the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the FCC in effect on October 19, 1976, or was required by the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the FCC.

(12) A statement of the total royalty fee payable for the period covered by the Statement of Account, together with a royalty fee analysis which gives a clear, complete, and detailed presentation of the determination of such fee. This analysis shall present in appropriate sequence all facts, figures, and mathematical processes used in determining such fee, and shall do so in such manner as required in the appropriate form so as to permit the Copyright Office to verify readily, from the face of the Statement of Account, the accuracy of such determination and fee. The royalty fee analysis is not required to be given by any cable system whose gross receipts from subscribers for the period covered by the Statement of Account, for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmissions, total $137,100 or less.

(13) The name, address, and telephone number of an individual who may be contacted by the Copyright Office for further information about the Statement of Account.

(14) The handwritten signature of:

(i) The owner of the cable system or a duly authorized agent of the owner, if the owner is not a partnership or a corporation; or

(ii) A partner, if the owner is a partnership; or

(iii) An officer of the corporation, if the owner is a corporation. The signature shall be accompanied by:

(A) The printed or typewritten name of the person signing the Statement of Account;

(B) The date of signature;

(C) If the owner of the cable system is a partnership or a corporation, by the title or official position held in the partnership or corporation by the person signing the Statement of Account;

(D) A certification of the capacity of the person signing; and

(E) A declaration of the veracity of the statements of fact contained in the Statement of Account and the good faith of the person signing in making such statement of fact.

(f) Computation of distant signal equivalents.

(1) A cable system that elects to delete a particular television program and substitute for that program another television program (“substitute program”) under rules, regulations, or authorizations of the FCC in effect on October 19, 1976, which permit a cable system, at its election, to omit the retransmission of a particular program and substitute another program in its place shall compute the distant signal equivalent (“DSE”) of each primary transmitter that broadcasts one or more substitute programs by dividing:

(i) The number of the primary transmitter's live, nonnetwork, substitute programs that were carried by the cable system, during the period covered by the Statement of Account, in substitution for programs deleted at the option of the system; by

(ii) The number of days in the year in which the substitution occurred.

(2)

(i) Where a cable system carries a primary transmitter on a full-time basis during any portion of an accounting period, the system shall compute a DSE for that primary transmitter as if it was carried full-time during the entire accounting period.

(ii) Where a cable system carries a primary transmitter solely on a substitute or part-time basis, in accordance with paragraph (f)(3) of this section, the system shall compute a DSE for that primary transmitter based on its cumulative carriage on a substitute or part-time basis. If that primary transmitter is carried on a full-time basis as well as on a substitute or part-time basis, the full DSE for that primary transmitter shall be the full DSE type value for that primary transmitter, for the entire accounting period.

(3)

(i) In computing the DSE of a primary transmitter in a particular case of carriage before July 1, 1981, the cable system may make no prorated adjustments other than those specified as permissible “exceptions and limitations” in the definition of “distant signal equivalent” in the fifth paragraph of section 111(f) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. Four prorated adjustments, as prescribed in the fourth and fifth sentences of said definition, are permitted under certain conditions where:

(A) A station is carried pursuant to the late-night programming rules of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on the date of carriage;

(B) A station is carried pursuant to the specialty programming rules of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on the date of carriage;

(C) A station is carried on a part-time basis where full-time carriage is not possible because the cable system lacks the activated channel capacity to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized to carry; and

(D) A station is carried on a “substitute” basis under rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on October 19, 1976.

(ii) In computing the DSE of a primary transmitter in a particular case of carriage on or after July 1, 1981, the cable system may make no prorated adjustments other than those specified as permissible “exceptions and limitations” in the definition of “distant signal equivalent” in the fifth paragraph of section 111(f) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, and which remain in force under that provision. Two prorated adjustments, as prescribed in the fourth and fifth sentences of said definition, are permitted under certain conditions where:

(A) A station is carried on a part-time basis where full-time carriage is not possible because the cable system lacks the activated channel capacity to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized to carry; and

(B) A station is carried on a “substitute” basis under rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on October 19, 1976, which permitted a cable system, at its election, to omit the retransmission of a particular program and substitute another program in its place.

(4) In computing a DSE, a cable system may round off to the third decimal point. If a DSE is rounded off in any case in a Statement of Account, it must be rounded off throughout the Statement. Where a cable system has chosen to round off, and the fourth decimal point for a particular DSE value would, without rounding off, have been 1, 2, 3, or 4, the third decimal point remains unchanged; if, in such a case, the fourth decimal point would, without rounding off, be 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, the third decimal point must be rounded off to the next higher number.

(5) For the purposes of computing DSE values, specialty primary television transmitters in the United States and all Canadian and Mexican primary television transmitters shall be assigned a value of one.

(g) Computation of the copyright royalty fee: Partially distant stations. A cable system located partly within and partly without the local service area of a primary television transmitter (“partially distant station”) computes the royalty fee specified in section 111(d)(1)(B) (ii), (iii), and (iv) of the Copyright Act (“DSE fee”) by excluding gross receipts from subscribers located within that station's local service area from total gross receipts. A cable system which carries two or more partially distant stations with local service areas that do not exactly coincide shall compute a separate DSE fee for each group of subscribers who are located outside of the local service areas of exactly the same complement of distant stations. Computation of the DSE fee for each subscriber group is to be based on:

(1) The total distant signal equivalents of that group's complement of distant stations, and

(2) The total gross receipts from that group of subscribers. The copyright royalty fee for that cable system is:

(i) The total of the subscriber group royalty fees thus computed, or

(ii) 1.013 of 1 percent of the system's gross receipts from all subscribers, whichever is larger.

(h) Computation of the copyright royalty fee pursuant to the 1982 cable rate adjustment.

(1) For the purposes of this paragraph, in addition to the definitions of paragraph (b) of this section, the following definitions shall also apply:

(i) Current base rate means the applicable royalty rates in effect on December 31, 1982, as reflected in 37 CFR 256.2(a).

(ii) If the 3.75% rate does not apply to certain DSE's in the case of a cable system located wholly or in part within a top 100 television market, the current base rate together with the surcharge shall apply. However, the surcharge shall not apply for carriage of a particular signal first carried prior to March 31, 1972. With respect to statements of account covering the filing period beginning January 1, 1990, and subsequent filing periods, the current base rate together with the surcharge shall apply only to those DSE's that represent commercial VHF signals which place a predicted Grade B contour, in whole or in part, over a cable system. The surcharge will not apply if the signal is exempt from the syndicated exclusivity rules in effect on June 24, 1981.

(iii) The 3.75% rate means the rate established by 37 CFR 256.2(c), in effect on March 15, 1983.

(iv) Top 100 television market means a television market defined or interpreted as being within either the “top 50 television markets” or “second 50 television markets” in accordance with 47 CFR 76.51, in effect on June 24, 1981.

(v) The 1982 cable rate adjustment means the rate adjustment adopted by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal on October 20, 1982 (CRT Docket No. 81–2, 47 FR 52146, November 19, 1982).

(vi) The terms DSE or DSE's mean “distant signal equivalent(s)” as defined in 17 U.S.C. 111(f) and any fraction thereof.

(2) A cable system filing Form SA3 shall compute its royalty fee in the following manner:

(i) The cable system shall first determine those DSE's to which the 3.75% rate established by 37 CFR 256.2(c) applies.

(ii) If the 3.75% rate does not apply to certain DSE's in the case of a cable system located wholly or in part within a top 100 television market, the current base rate together with the surcharge shall apply. However, the surcharge shall not apply for carriage of a particular signal first carried prior to March 31, 1972. With respect to statements of account covering the filing period beginning January 1, 1990, and subsequent filing periods, the current base rate together with the surcharge shall apply only to those DSE's that represent commercial VHF signals which place a predicted Grade B contour, in whole or in part, over a cable system. The surcharge will not apply if the signal is exempt from the syndicated exclusivity rules in effect on June 24, 1981.

(iii) If the 3.75% rate does not apply to certain DSE's, in the case of a cable system located wholly outside a top 100 television market, the current base rate shall apply.

(iv) Commencing with the semiannual accounting period of January 1, 1998, through June 30, 1998, the 3.75% rate applies to certain DSE's with respect to the communities within the cable system where carriage would not have been permitted under the rules and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on June 24, 1981, but in all other communities within the cable system, the current base rate and the syndicated exclusivity surcharge, where applicable, shall apply. Such computation shall be made as provided for on Form SA3. The calculations shall be based upon the gross receipts from all subscribers, within the relevant communities, for the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters, without regard to whether those subscribers actually received the station in question. For partially-distant stations, gross receipts shall be the total gross receipts from subscribers outside the local service area.

(3) A cable system whose semiannual gross receipts for secondary transmissions totalled $214,000 or more during the period January 1, 1983, through June 30, 1983, shall compute its royalty fee for carriage during that period in the following manner:

(i) Copyright royalty fees must be paid on the basis of carriage for the entire accounting period except where proration of the DSE is permitted as described in paragraph (f)(3) of this section.

(ii) Where a distant signal was carried at any time only between January 1, 1983, and March 14, 1983;

(A) In the case of a cable system located wholly or in part within a top 100 television market, the current base rate, together with the surcharge shall apply. However, the surcharge shall not apply for carriage of a particular signal first carried prior to March 31, 1972.

(B) In case of a cable system located wholly outside a top 100 television market, the current base rate shall apply.

(iii) Where a distant signal was carried at any time after March 14, 1983;

(A) The cable system shall first determine those DSE's to which the 3.75% rate established by 37 CFR 256.2(c) applies.

(B) If the 3.75% rate is applicable to a particular DSE, it shall be applied against the per centum .5967 (representing the number of days from March 15, 1983, through June 30, 1983, inclusive, in relation to the entire accounting period); and either

( 1 ) In the case of a cable system located wholly or in part within a top 100 television market, the current base rate, together with the surcharge, applied against the per centum .4033 (representing the number of days from January 1, 1983, through March 14, 1983, inclusive, in relation to the entire accounting period); however, the surcharge shall not apply for carriage of a particular signal first carried prior to March 31, 1972; or

( 2 ) In the case of a cable system located wholly outside a top 100 television market, the current base rate applied against the per centum .4033.

(C) If the 3.75% rate does not apply to certain DSE's, in the case of a cable system located wholly or in part within a top 100 television market, the current base rate together with the surcharge shall apply. However, the surcharge shall not apply for carriage of a particular signal first carried prior to March 31, 1972.

(D) If the 3.75% rate does not apply to certain DSE's, in the case of a cable system located wholly outside a top 100 television market, the current base rate shall apply.

(4)

(i) Separate Supplemental DSE Schedules as prescribed by the Copyright Office shall be completed and filed by a cable system affected by the 1982 cable rate adjustment for the accounting periods January 1, 1983, through June 30, 1983 (83–1), and July 1, 1983, through December 31, 1983 (83–2). Each Supplemental DSE schedule shall contain the information required by that form and its accompanying instructions.

(ii) The Supplemental DSE Schedule will be mailed to all cable systems whose gross receipts for secondary transmissions total $214,000 or more either for accounting period 83–1 or for 83–2, and shall be completed and returned to the Copyright Office with the supplemental royalty fee due, if any, within sixty-five (65) days from the date of mailing by the Copyright Office.

(iii) Cable systems located wholly outside all major and smaller television markets as defined by the FCC are not affected by the 1982 cable rate adjustment. Such systems shall complete a certifying statement provided in the Supplemental DSE Schedule and return it within sixty-five (65) days from the date of mailing by the Copyright Office.

(5)

(i) It shall be presumed that the 3.75% rate of 37 CFR 308.2(c) applies to DSE's accruing from newly added distant signals, carried for the first time by a cable system after June 24, 1981.

(ii) The presumption of paragraph (h)(5)(i) of this section can be rebutted in whole or in part:

(A) By actual carriage of a particular distant signal prior to June 25, 1981, as reported in Statements of Account duly filed with the Copyright Office (“actual carriage”), unless the prior carriage was not permitted by the FCC; or

(B) By carriage of no more than the number of distant signals which was or would have been allotted to the cable system under the FCC's quota for importation of network and nonspecialty independent stations (47 CFR 76.59(b), 76.61 (b) and (c) and 76.63, referring to 76.61 (b) and (c), in effect on June 24, 1981).

(6) To qualify as an FCC-permitted signal on the ground of individual waiver of the FCC rules (47 CFR 76.7 in effect on June 24, 1981), the waiver must have actually been granted by the FCC, and the signal must have been first carried by the cable system after April 15, 1976.

(7) Expanded geographic carriage after June 24, 1981, of a signal previously carried within only certain parts of a cable system is governed by the current base rate and the surcharge, if applicable.

(8) In cases of expanded temporal carriage of the same signal, previously carried pursuant to the FCC's former part-time or substitute carriage rules (47 CFR 76.61(b)(2), 76.61 (e)(1) and (e)(3), and 76.63, referring to 76.61 (e)(1) and (e)(3), in effect on June 24, 1981), the 3.75% rate shall be applied to any additional fraction of a DSE accruing from the expanded temporal carriage of that signal. To identify such additional DSE's, a comparison shall be made of DSE's reported for that signal in any single accounting period prior to the July 1, 1981, to December 31, 1981, period (81–2), as designated by the cable system, with the DSE's for that same signal reported in the current relevant accounting period.

(9) Substitution of like signals pursuant to 37 CFR 256.2(c) is possible at the relevant non-3.75% rate (the surcharge together with the current base rate, or the current base rate alone) only if the substitution does not exceed the number of distant signals which was or would have been allotted to the cable system under the FCC's television market quota for importation of network and nonspecialty independent stations (47 CFR 76.59(b), 76.61 (b) and (c), and 76.63, referring to 76.61 (b) and (c), in effect on June 24, 1981.

(i) Royalty fee payment .

(1) All royalty fees must be paid by a single electronic funds transfer, and must be received in the designated bank by the filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. The following information must be provided as part of the EFT and/or as part of the remittance advice as provided for in circulars issued by the Copyright Office:

(i) Remitter's name and address;

(ii) Name of a contact person, telephone number and extension, and e-mail address;

(iii) The actual or anticipated date that the EFT will be transmitted;

(iv) Type of royalty payment ( i.e. , cable);

(v) Total amount submitted via the EFT;

(vi) Total amount to be paid by year and period;

(vii) Number of Statements of Account that the EFT covers;

(viii) ID numbers assigned by the Licensing Division;

(ix) Legal name of the owner for each Statement of Account;

(x) Identification of the first community served (city and state).

(2) The remittance advice shall be attached to the Statement(s) of Account. In addition, a copy of the remittance advice shall be emailed or sent by facsimile to the Licensing Division.

(3) The Office may waive the requirement for payment by electronic funds transfer as set forth in paragraph (i)(1) of this section. To obtain a waiver, the remitter shall submit to the Licensing Division at least 60 days prior to the royalty fee due date a certified statement setting forth the reasons explaining why payment by an electronic funds transfer would be virtually impossible or, alternatively, why it would impose a financial or other hardship on the remitter. The certified statement must be signed by a duly authorized representative of the entity making the payment. A waiver shall cover only a single payment period. Failure to obtain a waiver may result in the remittance being returned to the remitter.

(4) Royalty fee payments submitted as a result of late or amended filings shall include interest. Interest shall begin to accrue beginning on the first day after the close of the period for filing statements of account for all late payments and underpayments of royalties for the cable statutory license occurring within that accounting period. The accrual period shall end on the date the electronic payment submitted by a cable operator is received. The accrual period shall end on the date the electronic payment submitted by a satellite carrier is received by the Copyright Office. In cases where a waiver of the electronic funds transfer requirement is approved by the Copyright Office, and royalties payments are either late or underpaid, the accrual period shall end on the date the payment is postmarked. If the payment is not received by the Copyright Office within five business days of its date, then the accrual period shall end on the date of the actual receipt by the Copyright Office.

(j) Copies of statements of account. A licensee shall file an original and one copy of the statement of account with the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office.

(k) Corrections, supplemental payments, and refunds.

(1) Upon compliance with the procedures and within the time limits set forth in paragraph (k)(3) of this section, corrections to Statements of Account will be placed on record, supplemental royalty fee payments will be received for deposit, or refunds will be issued, in the following cases:

(i) Where, with respect to the accounting period covered by a Statement of Account, any of the information given in the Statement filed in the Copyright Office is incorrect or incomplete;

(ii) Where, for any reason except that mentioned in paragraph (k)(1)(iii) of this section, calculation of the royalty fee payable for a particular accounting period was incorrect, and the amount deposited in the Copyright Office for that period was either too high or too low; or

(iii) Where, for the semiannual accounting period of January 1, 1978, through June 30, 1978, the total royalty fee deposited was incorrect because the cable operator failed to compute royalties attributable to carriage of late-night, specialty, or part-time programming between January 1, 1978, and February 9, 1978.

(2) Corrections to Statements of Account will not be placed on record, supplemental royalty fee payments will not be received for deposit, and refunds will not be issued, where the information in the Statements of Account, the royalty fee calculations, or the payments were correct as of the date on which the accounting period ended, but changes (for example, addition or deletion of a distant signal) took place later.

(3) Requests that corrections to a Statement of Account be placed on record, that fee payments be accepted, or requests for the issuance of refunds, shall be made only in the cases mentioned in paragraph (k)(1) of this section. Such requests shall be addressed to the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office, and shall meet the following conditions:

(i) The request must be in writing, must clearly identify its purpose, and, in the case of a request for a refund, must be received in the Copyright Office before the expiration of 60 days from the last day of the applicable Statement of Account filing period, or before the expiration of 60 days from the date of receipt at the Copyright Office of the royalty payment that is the subject of the request, whichever time period is longer. A request made by telephone or by telegraphic or similar unsigned communication, will be considered to meet this requirement if it clearly identifies the basis of the request, if it is received in the Copyright Office within the required 60-day period, and if a written request meeting all the conditions of this paragraph (k)(3) is also received in the Copyright Office within 14 days after the end of such 60-day period;

(ii) The Statement of Account to which the request pertains must be sufficiently identified in the request (by inclusion of the name of the owner of the cable system, the community or communities served, and the accounting period in question) so that it can be readily located in the records of the Copyright Office;

(iii) The request must contain a clear statement of the facts on which it is based and provide a clear basis on which a refund may be granted, in accordance with the following procedures:

(A) In the case of a request filed under paragraph (k)(1)(i) of this section, where the information given in the Statement of Account is incorrect or incomplete, the request must clearly identify the erroneous or incomplete information and provide the correct or additional information;

(B) In the case of a request filed under paragraph (k)(1)(ii) of this section, where the royalty fee was miscalculated and the amount deposited in the Copyright Office was either too high or too low, the request must be accompanied by an affidavit under the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, or a statement in accordance with section 1746 of title 28 of the United States Code, made and signed in accordance with paragraph (e)(14) of this section. The affidavit or statement shall describe the reasons why the royalty fee was improperly calculated and include a detailed analysis of the proper royalty calculations;

(C) In the case of a request filed under paragraph (k)(1)(iii) of this section, the request shall be identified as “Transitional and Supplemental Royalty Fee Payment” and include a detailed analysis of the proper royalty calculations;

(iv)

(A) All requests filed under this paragraph (k) (except those filed under paragraph (k)(1)(iii) of this section) must be accompanied by a filing fee in the amount prescribed in §201.3(e) of this part for each Statement of Account involved. Payment of this fee may be in the form of a personal or company check, or of a certified check, cashier's check or money order, payable to: Register of Copyrights. No request will be processed until the appropriate filing fees are received.

(B) All requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be received for deposit under this paragraph (k), must be accompanied by a remittance in the full amount of such fee. Payment of the supplemental royalty fee must be in the form of a certified check, cashier's check, or money order, payable to: Register of Copyrights; or an electronic payment. No such request will be processed until an acceptable remittance in the full amount of the supplemental royalty fee has been received.

(v) All requests submitted under this paragraph (j) must be signed by the cable system owner named in the Statement of Account, or the duly authorized agent of the owner, in accordance with paragraph (e)(14) of this section.

(vi) A request for a refund is not necessary where the Licensing Division, during its examination of a Statement of Account or related document, discovers an error that has resulted in a royalty overpayment. In this case, the Licensing Division will forward the royalty refund to the cable system owner named in the Statement of Account without regard to the time limitations provided for in paragraph (k)(3)(i) of this section.

(4) Following final processing, all requests submitted under this paragraph (k) will be filed with the original Statement of Account in the records of the Copyright Office. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be considered to relieve cable systems from their full obligations under title 17 of the United States Code, and the filing of a correction or supplemental payment shall have only such effect as may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(l) Satellite carriers not eligible. Satellite carriers and satellite resale carriers are not eligible for the cable compulsory license based upon an interpretation of the whole of section 111 of title 17 of the United States Code.

(17 U.S.C. 111, 702, 708)

[43 FR 27832, June 27, 1978]

Editorial Note:
  For Federal Register citations affecting §201.17, see the List of CFR Sections Affected, which appears in the Finding Aids section of the printed volume and on GPO Access.

§ 201.18   Notice of intention to obtain a compulsory license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works.

(a) General.

(1) A “Notice of Intention” is a Notice identified in section 115(b) of title 17 of the United States Code, and required by that section to be served on a copyright owner or, in certain cases, to be filed in the Copyright Office, before or within thirty days after making, and before distributing any phonorecords of the work, in order to obtain a compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works.

(2) A person is entitled to serve or file a Notice of Intention and thereby obtain a compulsory license pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 115 only if his primary purpose in making phonorecords is to distribute them to the public for private use, including by means of a digital phonorecord delivery.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a “digital phonorecord delivery” is each individual delivery of a phonorecord by digital transmission of a sound recording which results in a specifically identifiable reproduction by or for any transmission recipient of a phonorecord of that sound recording, regardless of whether the digital transmission is also a public performance of the sound recording or any nondramatic musical work embodied therein. The reproduction of the phonorecord must be sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. Such a phonorecord may be permanent or it may be made available to the transmission recipient for a limited period of time or for a specified number of performances. A digital phonorecord delivery includes all phonorecords that are made for the purpose of making the digital phonorecord delivery.

(4) A Notice of Intention shall be served or filed for nondramatic musical works embodied, or intended to be embodied, in phonorecords made under the compulsory license. A Notice of Intention may designate any number of nondramatic musical works, provided that the copyright owner of each designated work or, in the case of any work having more than one copyright owner, any one of the copyright owners is the same and that the information required under paragraphs (d)(1)(i) through (iv) of this section does not vary. For purposes of this section, a Notice which lists multiple works shall be considered a composite filing of multiple Notices and fees shall be paid accordingly if filed in the Copyright Office under paragraph (f) of this section ( i.e. , a separate fee, in the amount set forth in §201.3(e)(1), shall be paid for each work listed in the Notice).

(5) For the purposes of this section, the term copyright owner, in the case of any work having more than one copyright owner, means any one of the co-owners.

(6) For the purposes of this section, service of a Notice of Intention on a copyright owner may be accomplished by means of service of the Notice on either the copyright owner or an agent of the copyright owner with authority to receive the Notice. In the case where the work has more than one copyright owner, the service of the Notice on any one of the co-owners of the nondramatic musical work or upon an authorized agent of one of the co-owners identified in the Notice of Intention shall be sufficient with respect to all co-owners. Notwithstanding paragraph (a)(2) of this section, a single Notice may designate works not owned by the same copyright owner in the case where the Notice is served on a common agent of multiple copyright owners, and where each of the works designated in the Notice is owned by any of the copyright owners who have authorized that agent to receive Notices.

(7) For purposes of this section, a copyright owner or an agent of a copyright owner with authority to receive Notices of Intention may make public a written policy that it will accept Notices of Intention to make and distribute phonorecords pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 115 which include less than all of the information required by this section, in a form different than required by this section, or delivered by means (including electronic transmission) other than those required by this section. Any Notice provided in accordance with such policy shall not be rendered invalid for failing to comply with the specific requirements of this section.

(8) For the purposes of this section, a digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as a type of phonorecord configuration, and a digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as a phonorecord manufactured, made, and distributed on the date the phonorecord is digitally transmitted.

(b) Agent. An agent who has been authorized to accept Notices of Intention in accordance with paragraph (a)(4) of this section and who has received a Notice of Intention on behalf of a copyright owner shall provide within two weeks of the receipt of that Notice of Intention the name and address of the copyright owner or its agent upon whom the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license shall serve Statements of Account and the monthly royalty in accordance with §201.19(a)(4).

(c) Form. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving or filing Notices of Intention.

(d) Content.

(1) A Notice of Intention shall be clearly and prominently designated, at the head of the notice, as a “Notice of Intention to Obtain a Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords,” and shall include a clear statement of the following information:

(i) The full legal name of the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license, together with all fictitious or assumed names used by such person or entity for the purpose of conducting the business of making and distributing phonorecords;

(ii) The telephone number, the full address, including a specific number and street name or rural route of the place of business, and an e-mail address, if available, of the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license, and if a business organization intends to obtain the compulsory license, the name and title of the chief executive officer, managing partner, sole proprietor or other person similarly responsible for the management of such entity. A post office box or similar designation will not be sufficient for this purpose except where it is the only address that can be used in that geographic location.

(iii) The information specified in paragraphs (d)(1)(i) and (ii) of this section for the primary entity expected to be engaged in the business of making and distributing phonorecords under the license or of authorizing such making and distribution (for example: a record company or digital music service), if an entity intending to obtain the compulsory license is a holding company, trust or other entity that is not expected to be actively engaged in the business of making and distributing phonorecords under the license or of authorizing such making and distribution;

(iv) The fiscal year of the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license. If that fiscal year is a calendar year, the Notice shall state that this is the case;

(v) For each nondramatic musical work embodied or intended to be embodied in phonorecords made under the compulsory license:

(A) The title of the nondramatic musical work;

(B) The name of the author or authors, if known;

(C) A copyright owner of the work, if known;

(D) The types of all phonorecord configurations already made (if any) and expected to be made under the compulsory license (for example: single disk, long-playing disk, cassette, cartridge, reel-to-reel, a digital phonorecord delivery, or a combination of them);

(E) The expected date of initial distribution of phonorecords already made (if any) or expected to be made under the compulsory license;

(F) The name of the principal recording artist or group actually engaged or expected to be engaged in rendering the performances fixed on phonorecords already made (if any) or expected to be made under the compulsory license;

(G) The catalog number or numbers, and label name or names, used or expected to be used on phonorecords already made (if any) or expected to be made under the compulsory license; and

(H) In the case of phonorecords already made (if any) under the compulsory license, the date or dates of such manufacture.

(vi) In the case where the Notice will be filed with the Copyright Office pursuant to paragraph (f)(3) of this section, the Notice shall include an affirmative statement that with respect to the nondramatic musical work named in the Notice of Intention, the registration records or other public records of the Copyright Office have been searched and found not to identify the name and address of the copyright owner of such work.

(2) A “clear statement” of the information listed in paragraph (d)(1) of this section requires a clearly intelligible, legible, and unambiguous statement in the Notice itself and without incorporation by reference of facts or information contained in other documents or records.

(3) Where information is required to be given by paragraph (d)(1) of this section “if known” or as “expected,” such information shall be given in good faith and on the basis of the best knowledge, information, and belief of the person signing the Notice. If so given, later developments affecting the accuracy of such information shall not affect the validity of the Notice.

(e) Signature. The Notice shall be signed by the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license or by a duly authorized agent of such person or entity.

(1) If the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license is a corporation, the signature shall be that of a duly authorized officer or agent of the corporation.

(2) If the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license is a partnership, the signature shall be that of a partner or of a duly authorized agent of the partnership.

(3) If the Notice is signed by a duly authorized agent for the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license, the Notice shall include an affirmative statement that the agent is authorized to execute the Notice of Intention on behalf of the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license.

(4) If the Notice is served electronically, the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license and the copyright owner shall establish a procedure to verify that the Notice is being submitted upon the authority of the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license.

(f) Filing and service.

(1) If the registration records or other public records of the Copyright Office identify the copyright owner of the nondramatic musical works named in the Notice of Intention and include an address for such owner, the Notice may be served on such owner by mail sent to, or by reputable courier service at, the last address for such owner shown by the records of the Office. It shall not be necessary to file a copy of the Notice in the Copyright Office in this case.

(2) If the Notice is sent by mail or delivered by reputable courier service to the last address for the copyright owner shown by the records of the Copyright Office and the Notice is returned to the sender because the copyright owner is no longer located at the address or has refused to accept delivery, the original Notice as sent shall be filed in the Copyright Office. Notices of Intention submitted for filing under this paragraph (f)(2) shall be submitted to the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office, shall be accompanied by a brief statement that the Notice was sent to the last address for the copyright owner shown by the records of the Copyright Office but was returned, and may be accompanied by appropriate evidence that it was mailed to, or that delivery by reputable courier service was attempted at, that address. In these cases, the Copyright Office will specially mark its records to consider the date the original Notice was mailed, or the date delivery by courier service was attempted, if shown by the evidence mentioned above, as the date of filing. An acknowledgment of receipt and filing will be provided to the sender.

(3) If, with respect to the nondramatic musical works named in the Notice of Intention, the registration records or other public records of the Copyright Office do not identify the copyright owner of such work and include an address for such owner, the Notice may be filed in the Copyright Office. Notices of Intention submitted for filing shall be accompanied by the fee specified in §201.3(e). A separate fee shall be assessed for each title listed in the Notice. Notices of Intention will be filed by being placed in the appropriate public records of the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office. The date of filing will be the date when the Notice and fee are both received in the Copyright Office. An acknowledgment of receipt and filing will be provided to the sender.

(4) Alternatively, if the person or entity intending to obtain the compulsory license knows the name and address of the copyright owner of the nondramatic musical work, or the agent of the copyright owner as described in paragraph (a)(4) of this section, the Notice of Intention may be served on the copyright owner or the agent of the copyright owner by sending the Notice by mail or delivering it by reputable courier service to the address of the copyright owner or agent of the copyright owner. For purposes of section 115(b)(1) of title 17 of the United States Code, the Notice will not be considered properly served if the Notice is not sent to the copyright owner or the agent of the copyright owner as described in paragraph (a)(4) of this section, or if the Notice is sent to an incorrect address.

(5) If a Notice of Intention is sent by certified mail or registered mail, a mailing receipt shall be sufficient to prove that service was timely. If a Notice of Intention is delivered by a reputable courier, documentation from the courier showing the first date of attempted delivery shall also be sufficient to prove that service was timely. In the absence of a receipt from the United States Postal Service showing the date of delivery or documentation showing the first date of attempted delivery by a reputable courier, the compulsory licensee shall bear the burden of proving that the Notice of Intention was served in a timely manner.

(6) If a Notice served upon a copyright owner or an authorized agent of a copyright owner identifies more than 50 works that are embodied or intended to be embodied in phonorecords made under the compulsory license, the copyright owner or the authorized agent may send the person who served the Notice a demand that a list of each of the works so identified be resubmitted in an electronic format, along with a copy of the original Notice. The person who served the Notice must submit such a list, which shall include all of the information required in paragraph (d)(1)(v) of this section, within 30 days after receipt of the demand from the copyright owner or authorized agent. The list shall be submitted on magnetic disk or another medium widely used at the time for electronic storage of data, in the form of a flat file, word processing document or spreadsheet readable with computer software in wide use at such time, with the required information identified and/or delimited so as to be readily discernible. The list may be submitted by means of electronic transmission (such as e-mail) if the demand from the copyright owner or authorized agent states that such submission will be accepted.

(g) Harmless errors. Harmless errors in a Notice that do not materially affect the adequacy of the information required to serve the purposes of section 115(b)(1) of title 17 of the United States Code, shall not render the Notice invalid.

[69 FR 34582, June 22, 2004, as amended at 73 FR 66181, Nov. 7, 2008]

§ 201.19   Royalties and statements of account under compulsory license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works.

(a) Definitions.

(1) A Monthly Statement of Account is a statement accompanying monthly royalty payments identified in section 115(c)(5) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, and required by that section to be made under the compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works, including by means of a digital phonorecord delivery.

(2) An Annual Statement of Account is a statement identified in section 115(c)(5) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, and required by that section to be filed for every compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works.

(3) For the purposes of this section, a “digital phonorecord delivery” is each individual delivery of a phonorecord by digital transmission of a sound recording which results in a specifically identifiable reproduction by or for any transmission recipient of a phonorecord of that sound recording, regardless of whether the digital transmission is also a public performance of the sound recording or any nondramatic musical work embodied therein. The reproduction of the phonorecord must be sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. Such a phonorecord may be permanent or it may be made available to the transmission recipient for a limited period of time or for a specified number of performances. A digital phonorecord delivery includes all phonorecords that are made for the purpose of making the digital phonorecord delivery.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the term copyright owner, in the case of any work having more than one copyright owner, means any one of the co-owners.

(5) For the purposes of this section, the service of a Statement of Account on a copyright owner under paragraph (e)(7) or (f)(7) of this section may be accomplished by means of service on either the copyright owner or an agent of the copyright owner with authority to receive Statements of Account on behalf of the copyright owner. In the case where the work has more than one copyright owner, the service of the Statement of Account on one co-owner or upon an agent of one of the co-owners shall be sufficient with respect to all co-owners.

(6) For the purposes of this section, a compulsory licensee is a person or entity exercising the compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works as provided under section 115 of title 17 of the United States Code.

(7) For the purposes of this section, a digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as a type of phonorecord configuration, and a digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as a phonorecord, with the following clarifications:

(i) A digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as a phonorecord made and distributed on the date the phonorecord is digitally transmitted; and

(ii) A digital phonorecord delivery shall be treated as having been voluntarily distributed and relinquished from possession, and a compulsory licensee shall be treated as having permanently parted with possession of a digital phonorecord delivery, on the date that the phonorecord is digitally transmitted.

(8) Except as provided in paragraph (a)(6) of this section, a phonorecord is considered voluntarily distributed if the compulsory licensee has voluntarily and permanently parted with possession of the phonorecord. For this purpose, and subject to the provisions of paragraph (d) of this section, a compulsory licensee shall be considered to have “permanently parted with possession” of a phonorecord made under the license:

(i) In the case of phonorecords relinquished from possession for purposes other than sale, at the time at which the compulsory licensee actually first parts with possession;

(ii) In the case of phonorecords relinquished from possession for purposes of sale without a privilege of returning unsold phonorecords for credit or exchange, at the time at which the compulsory licensee actually first parts with possession;

(iii) In the case of phonorecords relinquished from possession for purposes of sale accompanied by a privilege of returning unsold phonorecords for credit or exchange:

(A) At the time when revenue from a sale of the phonorecord is “recognized” by the compulsory licensee; or

(B) Nine months from the month in which the compulsory licensee actually first parted with possession, whichever occurs first.

For these purposes, a compulsory licensee shall be considered to “recognize” revenue from the sale of a phonorecord when sales revenue would be recognized in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as expressed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or the Financial Accounting Standards Board, whichever would cause sales revenue to be recognized first.

(9) To the extent that the terms reserve, credit and return appear in this section, such provisions shall not apply to digital phonorecord deliveries.

(10) A phonorecord reserve comprises the number of phonorecords, if any, that have been relinquished from possession for purposes of sale in a given month accompanied by a privilege of return, as described in paragraph (a)(5)(iii) of this section, and that have not been considered voluntarily distributed during the month in which the compulsory licensee actually first parted with their possession. The initial number of phonorecords comprising a phonorecord reserve shall be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles as expressed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

(11) A negative reserve balance comprises the aggregate number of phonorecords, if any, that have been relinquished from possession for purposes of sale accompanied by a privilege of return, as described in paragraph (a)(5)(iii) of this section, and that have been returned to the compulsory licensee, but because all available phonorecord reserves have been eliminated, have not been used to reduce a phonorecord reserve.

(12) An incomplete transmission is any digital transmission of a sound recording which, as determined by means within the sole control of the distributor, does not result in a specifically identifiable reproduction of the entire sound recording by or for any transmission recipient.

(13) A retransmission is a subsequent digital transmission of the same sound recording initially transmitted to an identified recipient for the purpose of completing the delivery of a complete and usable reproduction of that sound recording to that recipient.

(b) Accounting requirements where sales revenue is “recognized”. Where under paragraph (a)(5)(iii)(A) of this section, revenue from the sale of phonorecords is “recognized” during any month after the month in which the compulsory licensee actually first parted with their possession, said compulsory licensee shall reduce particular phonorecord reserves by the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized,” as follows:

(1) If the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized” is smaller than the number of phonorecords comprising the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve, this phonorecord reserve shall be reduced by the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized.” Subject to the time limitations of paragraph (a)(7)(iii)(B) of this section, the number of phonorecords remaining in this reserve shall be available for use in subsequent months.

(2) If the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized” is greater than the number of phonorecords comprising the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve but less than the total number of phonorecords comprising all eligible phonorecord reserves, the compulsory licensee shall first eliminate those phonorecord reserves, beginning with the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve and continuing to the next succeeding phonorecord reserves, that are completely offset by phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized.” Said licensee shall then reduce the next succeeding phonorecord reserve by the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized” that have not been used to eliminate a phonorecord reserve. Subject to the time limitations of paragraph (a)(7)(iii)(B) of this section, the number of phonorecords remaining in this reserve shall be available for use in subsequent months.

(3) If the number of phonorecords for which revenue is being “recognized” equals the number of phonorecords comprising all eligible phonorecord reserves, the person or entity exercising the compulsory license shall eliminate all of the phonorecord reserves.

(c) Accounting requirements for offsetting phonorecord reserves with returned phonorecords.

(1) In the case of a phonorecord that has been relinquished from possession for purposes of sale accompanied by a privilege of return, as described in paragraph (a)(5)(iii) of this section, where the phonorecord is returned to the compulsory licensee for credit or exchange before said compulsory licensee is considered to have “permanently parted with possession” of the phonorecord under paragraph (a)(5) of this section, the compulsory licensee may use such phonorecord to reduce a “phonorecord reserve,” as defined in paragraph (a)(6) of this section.

(2) In such cases, the compulsory licensee shall reduce particular phonorecord reserves by the number of phonorecords that are returned during the month covered by the Monthly Statement of Account in the following manner:

(i) If the number of phonorecords that are returned during the month covered by the Monthly Statement is smaller than the number comprising the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve, the compulsory licensee shall reduce this phonorecord reserve by the total number of returned phonorecords. Subject to the time limitations of paragraph (B) of §201.19(a)(5)(iii), the number of phonorecords remaining in this reserve shall be available for use in subsequent months.

(ii) If the number of phonorecords that are returned during the month covered by the Monthly Statement is greater than the number of phonorecords comprising the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve but less than the total number of phonorecords comprising all eligible phonorecord reserves, the compulsory licensee shall first eliminate those phonorecord reserves, beginning with the earliest eligible phonorecord reserve, and continuing to the next succeeding phonorecord reserves, that are completely offset by returned phonorecords. Said licensee shall then reduce the next succeeding phonorecord reserve by the number of returned phonorecords that have not been used to eliminate a phonorecord reserve. Subject to the time limitations of paragraph (B) of §201.19(a)(5)(iii), the number of phonorecords remaining in this reserve shall be available for use in subsequent months.

(iii) If the number of phonorecords that are returned during the month covered by the Monthly Statement is equal to or is greater than the total number of phonorecords comprising all eligible phonorecord reserves, the compulsory licensee shall eliminate all eligible phonorecord reserves. Where said number is greater than the total number of phonorecords comprising all eligible phonorecord reserves, said compulsory licensee shall establish a “negative reserve balance,” as defined in paragraph (a)(10) of this section.

(3) Except where a negative reserve balance exists, a separate and distinct phonorecord reserve shall be established for each month during which the compulsory licensee relinquishes phonorecords from possession for purposes of sale accompanied by a privilege of return, as described in paragraph (a)(5)(iii) of this section. In accordance with paragraph (B) of §201.19(a)(5)(iii), any phonorecord remaining in a particular phonorecord reserve nine months from the month in which the particular reserve was established shall be considered “voluntarily distributed”; at that point, the particular monthly phonorecord reserve shall lapse and royalties for the phonorecords remaining in it shall be paid as provided in paragraph (e)(4)(ii) of this section.

(4) Where a negative reserve balance exists, the aggregate total of phonorecords comprising it shall be accumulated into a single balance rather than being separated into distinct monthly balances. Following the establishment of a negative reserve balance, any phonorecords relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee for purposes of sale or otherwise, shall be credited against such negative balance, and the negative reserve balance shall be reduced accordingly. The nine-month limit provided by paragraph (B) of §201.19(a)(5)(iii) shall have no effect upon a negative reserve balance; where a negative reserve balance exists, relinquishment from possession of a phonorecord by the compulsory licensee at any time shall be used to reduce such balance, and shall not be considered a “voluntary distribution” within the meaning of paragraph (a)(5) of this section.

(5) In no case shall a phonorecord reserve be established while a negative reserve balance is in existence; conversely, in no case shall a negative reserve balance be established before all available phonorecord reserves have been eliminated.

(d) Situations in which a compulsory licensee is barred from maintaining reserves. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, in any case where, within three years before the phonorecord was relinquished from possession, the compulsory licensee has had final judgment entered against it for failure to pay royalties for the reproduction of copyrighted music on phonorecords, or within such period has been definitively found in any proceeding involving bankruptcy, insolvency, receivership, assignment for the benefit of creditors, or similar action, to have failed to pay such royalties, that compulsory licensee shall be considered to have “Permanently parted with possession” of a phonorecord made under the license at the time at which that licensee actually first parts with possession. For these purposes the “compulsory licensee,” as defined in paragraph (a)(5) of this section, shall include:

(1) In the case of any corporation, the corporation or any director, officer, or beneficial owner of twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the outstanding securities of the corporation;

(2) In all other cases, any entity or individual owning a beneficial interest of twenty-five percent (25%) or more in the entity exercising the compulsory license.

(e) Monthly statements of account

(1) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving Monthly Statements of Account.

(2) General content. A Monthly Statement of Account shall be clearly and prominently identified as a “Monthly Statement of Account Under Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords,” and shall include a clear statement of the following information:

(i) The period (month and year) covered by the Monthly Statement;

(ii) The full legal name of the compulsory licensee, together with all fictitious or assumed names used by such person or entity for the purpose of conducting the business of making and distributing phonorecords;

(iii) The full address, including a specific number and street name or rural route, of the place of business of the compulsory licensee. A post office box or similar designation will not be sufficient for this purpose, except where it is the only address that can be used in that geographic location;

(iv) The title or titles of the nondramatic musical work or works embodied in phonorecords made under the compulsory license and owned by the copyright owner being served with the Monthly Statement and the name of the author or authors of such work or works, if known;

(v) For each nondramatic musical work that is owned by the same copyright owner being served with the Monthly Statement and that is embodied in phonorecords covered by the compulsory license, a detailed statement of all of the information called for in paragraph (e)(3) of this section;

(vi) The total royalty payable for the month covered by the Monthly Statement, computed in accordance with the requirements of this section and the formula specified in paragraph (e)(4) of this section, together with a statement of account showing in detail how the royalty was computed; and

(vii) In any case where the compulsory licensee falls within the provisions of paragraph (d) of this section, a clear description of the action or proceeding involved, including the date of the final judgment or definitive finding described in that paragraph.

(3) Specific content of monthly statements: Identification and accounting of phonorecords. (i) The information called for by paragraph (e)(2)(v) of this section shall, with respect to each nondramatic musical work, include a separate listing of each of the following items of information:

(A) The number of phonorecords, including digital phonorecord deliveries, made during the month covered by the Monthly Statement;

(B) The number of phonorecords that, during the month covered by the Monthly Statement and regardless of when made, were either:

Relinquished from possession for purposes other than sale;

Relinquished from possession for purposes of sale without any privilege of returning unsold phonorecords for credit or exchange;

Relinquished from possession for purposes of sale accompanied by a privilege of returning unsold phonorecords for credit or exchange;

Returned to the compulsory licensee for credit or exchange;

Placed in a phonorecord reserve (except that if a negative reserve balance exists give either the number of phonorecords added to the negative reserve balance, or the number of phonorecords relinquished from possession that have been used to reduce the negative reserve balance);

Never delivered due to a failed transmission; or

Digitally retransmitted in order to complete a digital phonorecord delivery.

(C) The number of phonorecords, regardless of when made, that were relinquished from possession during a month earlier than the month covered by the Monthly Statement but that, during the month covered by the Monthly Statement either have had revenue from their sale “recognized” under paragraph (a)(5)(iii) of this section, or were comprised in a phonorecord reserve that lapsed after nine months under paragraph (B) of §201.19(a)(5)(iii).

(ii) Each of the items of information called for by paragraph (e)(3)(i) of this section shall also include, and if necessary shall be broken down to identify separately, the following:

(A) The catalog number or numbers and label name or names, used on the phonorecords;

(B) The names of the principal recording artist or group engaged in rendering the performances fixed on the phonorecords;

(C) The playing time on the phonorecords of each nondramatic musical work covered by the statement; and

(D) Each phonorecord configuration involved (for example: single disk, long-playing disk, cartridge, cassette, reel-to-reel, digital phonorecord delivery, or a combination of them).

(E) The date of and a reason for each incomplete transmission.

(4) Royalty payment and accounting. (i) The total royalty called for by paragraph (e)(2)(vi) of this section shall, as specified in section 115(c)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code, be payable for every phonorecord “voluntarily distributed” during the month covered by the Monthly Statement.

(ii) The amount of the royalty payment shall be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

Step 1: Compute the number of phonorecords shipped for sale with a privilege of return. This is the total of phonorecords that, during the month covered by the Monthly Statement, were relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee, accompanied by the privilege of returning unsold phonorecords to the compulsory licensee for credit or exchange. This total does not include: (1) Any phonorecords relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee for purposes of sale without the privilege of return; and (2) any phonorecords relinquished from possession for purposes other than sale.

Step 2: Subtract the number of phonorecords reserved. This involves deducting, from the subtotal arrived at in Step 1, the number of phonorecords that have been placed in the phonorecord reserve for the month covered by the Monthly Statement. The number of phonorecords reserved is determined by multiplying the subtotal from Step 1 by the percentage reserve level established under Generally Accepted Accounting Practices. This step should be skipped by a compulsory licensee barred from maintaining reserves under paragraph (d) of this section.

Step 3: Add the total of all phonorecords that were shipped during the month and were not counted in Step 1. This total is the sum of two figures: (1) The number of phonorecords that, during the month covered by the Monthly Statement, were relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee for purposes of sale, without the privilege of returning unsold phonorecords to the compulsory licensee for credit or exchange; and (2) the number of phonorecords relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee, during the month covered by the Monthly Statement, for purposes other than sale.

Step 4: Make any necessary adjustments for sales revenue “recognized,” lapsed reserves, or reduction of negative reserve balance during the month. If necessary, this step involves adding to or subtracting from the subtotal arrived at in Step 3 on the basis of three possible types of adjustments:

( a ) Sales revenue “recognized.” If, in the month covered by the Monthly Statement, the compulsory licensee “recognized” revenue from the sale of phonorecords that had been relinquished from possession in an earlier month, the number of such phonorecords is added to the Step 3 subtotal;

( b ) Lapsed reserves. If, in the month covered by the Monthly Statement, there are any phonorecords remaining in the phonorecord reserve for the ninth previous month (that is, any phonorecord reserves from the ninth previous month that have not been offset under FOFI, the first-out-first-in accounting convention, by actual returns during the intervening months), the reserve lapses and the number of phonorecords in it is added to the Step 3 subtotal.

( c ) Reduction of negative reserve balance. If, in the month covered by the Monthly Statement, the aggregate reserve balance for all previous months is a negative amount, the number of phonorecords relinquished from possession by the compulsory licensee during that month and used to reduce the negative reserve balance is subtracted from the Step 3 subtotal.

( d ) Incomplete transmissions. If, in the month covered by the Monthly Statement, there are any digital transmissions of a sound recording which do not result in specifically identifiable reproductions of the entire sound recording by or for any transmission recipient, as determined by means within the sole control of the distributor, the number of such phonorecords is subtracted from the Step 3 subtotal.

( e ) Retransmitted digital phonorecords. If, in the month covered by the Monthly Statement, there are retransmissions of a digital phonorecord to a recipient who did not receive a complete and usable phonorecord during an initial transmission, and such transmissions are made for the sole purpose of delivering a complete and usable reproduction of the initially requested sound recording to that recipient, the number of such retransmitted digital phonorecords is subtracted from the Step 3 subtotal.

Step 5: Multiply by the statutory royalty rate. The total monthly royalty payment is obtained by multiplying the subtotal from Step 3, as adjusted if necessary by Step 4, by the statutory royalty rate of 5.7 cents or 1.1 cents per minute or fraction of playing time, whichever is larger.

(iii) Each step in computing the monthly payment, including the arithmetical calculations involved in each step, shall be set out in detail in the Monthly Statement.

(5) Clear statements. The information required by paragraphs (e) (2) and (3) of this section involves intelligible, legible, and unambiguous statements in the Monthly Statements of Account itself and without incorporation of facts or information contained in other documents or records.

(6) Oath and signature. Each Monthly Statement of Account shall include the handwritten signature of the compulsory licensee. If that compulsory licensee is a corporation, the signature shall be that of a duly authorized officer of the corporation; if that compulsory licensee is a partnership, the signature shall be that of a partner. The signature shall be accompanied by:

(i) The printed or typewritten name of the person signing the Monthly Statement of Account;

(ii) The date of signature;

(iii) If the compulsory licensee is a partnership or a corporation, by the title or official position held in the partnership or corporation by the person signing the Monthly Statement of Account;

(iv) A certification of the capacity of the person signing; and

(v) The following statement:

I certify that I have examined this Monthly Statement of Account and that all statements of fact contained herein are true, complete, and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, and are made in good faith.

(7) Service. (i) Each Monthly Statement of Account shall be served on the copyright owner or the agent with authority to receive Monthly Statements of Account on behalf of the copyright owner to whom or which it is directed, together with the total royalty for the month covered by the Monthly Statement, by mail or by reputable courier service on or before the 20th day of the immediately succeeding month. However, in the case where the licensee has served its Notice of Intention upon an agent of the copyright owner pursuant to §201.18, the licensee is not required to serve Monthly Statements of Account or make any royalty payments until the licensee receives from the agent with authority to receive the Notice of Intention notice of the name and address of the copyright owner or its agent upon whom the licensee shall serve Monthly Statements of Account and the monthly royalty fees. Upon receipt of this information, the licensee shall serve Monthly Statements of Account and all royalty fees covering the intervening period upon the person or entity identified by the agent with authority to receive the Notice of Intention by or before the 20th day of the month following receipt of the notification. It shall not be necessary to file a copy of the Monthly Statement in the Copyright Office.

(ii)

(A) In any case where a Monthly Statement of Account is sent by mail or reputable courier service and the Monthly Statement of Account is returned to the sender because the copyright owner or agent is no longer located at that address or has refused to accept delivery, or in any case where an address for the copyright owner is not known, the Monthly Statement of Account, together with any evidence of mailing or attempted delivery by courier service, may be filed in the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office. Any Monthly Statement of Account submitted for filing in the Copyright Office shall be accompanied by a brief statement of the reason why it was not served on the copyright owner. A written acknowledgment of receipt and filing will be provided to the sender.

(B) The Copyright Office will not accept any royalty fees submitted with Monthly Statements of Account under this paragraph (e)(7)(ii).

(C) Neither the filing of a Monthly Statement of Account in the Copyright Office, nor the failure to file such Monthly Statement, shall have effect other than that which may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(D) No filing fee will be required in the case of Monthly Statements of Account submitted to the Copyright Office under this paragraph (e)(7)(ii). Upon request and payment of the fee specified in §201.3(e), a Certificate of Filing will be provided to the sender.

(iii) A separate Monthly Statement of Account shall be served for each month during which there is any activity relevant to the payment of royalties under section 115 of Title 17, United States Code, and under this section. The Annual Statement of Account identified in paragraph (f) of this section does not replace any Monthly Statement of Account.

(iv) If a Monthly Statement of Account is sent by certified mail or registered mail, a mailing receipt shall be sufficient to prove that service was timely. If a Monthly Statement of Account is delivered by a reputable courier, documentation from the courier showing the first date of attempted delivery shall also be sufficient to prove that service was timely. In the absence of a receipt from the United States Postal Service showing the date of delivery or documentation showing the first date of attempted delivery by a reputable courier, the compulsory licensee shall bear the burden of proving that the Monthly Statement of Account was served in a timely manner.

(f) Annual statements of account

(1) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving Annual Statements of Account.

(2) Annual period. Any Annual Statement of Account shall cover the full fiscal year of the compulsory licensee.

(3) General content. An Annual Statement of Account shall be clearly and prominently identified as an “Annual Statement of Account Under Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords,” and shall include a clear statement of the following information:

(i) The fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement;

(ii) The full legal name of the compulsory licensee, together with all fictitious or assumed names used by such person or entity for the purpose of conducting the business of making and distributing phonorecords;

(iii) If the compulsory licensee is a business organization, the name and title of the chief executive officer, managing partner, sole proprietor or other person similarly responsible for the management of such entity.

(iv) The full address, including a specific number and street name or rural route, or the place of business of the compulsory licensee. A post office box or similar designation will not be sufficient for this purpose except where it is the only address that can be used in that geographic location;

(v) The title or titles of the nondramatic musical work or works embodied in phonorecords made under the compulsory license and owned by the copyright owner being served with the Annual Statement and the name of the author or authors of such work or works, if known;

(vi) The playing time of each nondramatic musical work on such phonorecords;

(vii) For each nondramatic musical work that is owned by the same copyright owner being served with the Annual Statement and that is embodied in phonorecords covered by the compulsory license, a detailed statement of all of the information called for in paragraph (f)(4) of this section;

(viii) The total royalty payable for the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement computed in accordance with the requirements of this section, together with a statement of account showing in detail how the royalty was computed. For these purposes, the applicable royalty as specified in section 115(c)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code, shall be payable for every phonorecord “voluntarily distributed” during the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement;

(ix) The total sum paid under Monthly Statements of Account by the compulsory licensee to the copyright owner being served with the Annual Statement during the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement; and

(x) In any case where the compulsory license falls within the provisions of paragraph (d) of this section, a clear description of the action or proceeding involved, including the date of the final judgment or definitive finding described in that paragraph.

(4) Specific content of annual statements: Identification and accounting of phonorecords. (i) The information called for by paragraph (f)(3)(vii) of this section shall, with respect to each nondramatic musical work, include a separate listing of each of the following items of information separately stated and identified for each phonorecord configuration (for example, single disk, long playing disk, cartridge, cassette, or reel-to-reel) made:

(A) The number of phonorecords made through the end of the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement, including any made during earlier years;

(B) The number of phonorecords which have never been relinquished from possession of the compulsory licensee through the end of the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement;

(C) The number of phonorecords involuntarily relinquished from possession (as through fire or theft) of the compulsory licensee during the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement and any earlier years, together with a description of the facts of such involuntary relinquishment;

(D) The number of phonorecords “voluntarily distributed” by the compulsory licensee during all years before the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement;

(E) The number of phonorecords relinquished from possession of the compulsory licensee for purposes of sale during the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement accompanied by a privilege of returning unsold records for credit or exchange, but not “voluntarily distributed” by the end of that year;

(F) The number of phonorecords “voluntarily distributed” by the compulsory licensee during the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement, together with:

( 1 ) The catalog number or numbers, and label name or names, used on such phonorecords; and

( 2 ) The names of the principal recording artists or groups engaged in rendering the performances fixed on such phonorecords.

(ii) If the information given under paragraphs (f)(4)(i)(A) through (F) of this section does not reconcile, the Annual Statement shall also include a clear and detailed explanation of the difference. For these purposes, the information given under such paragraphs shall be considered not to reconcile if, after the number of phonorecords given under paragraphs (B), (C), (D), and (E) are added together and that sum is deducted from the number of phonorecords given under paragraph (A), the result is different from the amount given under paragraph (F).

(5) Clear statement. The information required by paragraph (f)(3) of this section involves intelligible, legible, and unambiguous statements in the Annual Statement of Account itself and without incorporation by reference of facts or information contained in other documents or records.

(6) Signature and certification. (i) Each Annual Statement of Account shall include the handwritten signature of the compulsory licensee. If that compulsory licensee is a corporation, the signature shall be that of a duly authorized officer of the corporation; if that compulsory licensee is a partnership, the signature shall be that of a partner. The signature shall be accompanied by: (A) The printed or typewritten name of the person signing the Annual Statement of Account; (B) the date of signature; (C) if the compulsory licensee is a partnership or a corporation, by the title or official position held in the partnership or corporation by the person signing the Annual Statement of Account; and (D) a certification of the capacity of the person signing.

(ii)

(A) Each Annual Statement of Account shall also be certified by a licensed Certified Public Accountant. Such certification shall consist of the following statement:

We have examined the attached “Annual Statement of Account Under Compulsory License For Making and Distributing Phonorecords” for the fiscal year ended (date) of (name of the compulsory licensee) applicable to phonorecords embodying (title or titles of nondramatic musical works embodied in phonorecords made under the compulsory license) made under the provisions of section 115 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, and applicable regulations of the United States Copyright Office. Our examination was made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards and accordingly, included tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances.

In our opinion the Annual Statement of Account referred to above presents fairly the number of phonorecords embodying each of the above-identified nondramatic musical works made under compulsory license and voluntarily distributed by (name of the compulsory licensee) during the fiscal year ending (date), and the amount of royalties applicable thereto under such compulsory license, on a consistent basis and in accordance with the above cited law and applicable regulations published thereunder. ____________________


(City and State of Execution) ____________________


(Signature of Certified Public Accountant or CPA Firm) ____________________


Certificate Number ____________________


Jurisdiction of Certificate ____________________


(Date of Opinion)

(B) The certificate shall be signed by an individual, or in the name of a partnership or a professional corporation with two or more shareholders. The certificate number and jurisdiction are not required if the certificate is signed in the name of a partnership or a professional corporation with two or more shareholders.

(7) Service. (i) Each Annual Statement of Account shall be served on the copyright owner or the agent with authority to receive Annual Statements of Account on behalf of the copyright owner to whom or which it is directed by mail or by reputable courier service on or before the 20th day of the third month following the end of the fiscal year covered by the Annual Statement. It shall not be necessary to file a copy of the Annual Statement in the Copyright Office. An Annual Statement of Account shall be served for each fiscal year during which at least one Monthly Statement of Account shall be served for each fiscal year during which at least one Monthly Statement of Account was required to have been served under paragraph (e)(7) of this section.

(ii) In any case where the amount required to be stated in the Annual Statement of Account under paragraph (f)(3)(viii) of this section is greater than the amount stated in that Annual Statement under paragraph (f)(3)(ix) of this section, the difference between such amounts shall be delivered to the copyright owner together with the service of the Annual Statement. The delivery of such sum does not require the copyright owner to accept such sum, or to forego any right, relief, or remedy which may be available under law.

(iii)

(A) In any case where an Annual Statement of Account is sent by mail or by reputable courier service and is returned to the sender because the copyright owner or agent is not located at that address or has refused to accept delivery, or in any case where an address for the copyright owner is not known, the Annual Statement of Account, together with any evidence of mailing or attempted delivery by courier service, may be filed in the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office. Any Annual Statement of Account submitted for filing shall be accompanied by a brief statement of the reason why it was not served on the copyright owner. A written acknowledgment of receipt and filing will be provided to the sender.

(B) The Copyright Office will not accept any royalty fees submitted with Annual Statements of Account under this paragraph (f)(7)(iii).

(C) Neither the filing of an Annual Statement of Account in the Copyright Office, nor the failure to file such Annual Statement, shall have any effect other than that which may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(D) No filing fee will be required in the case of Annual Statements of Account submitted to the Copyright Office under this §201.19(f)(7)(iii). Upon request and payment of the fee specified in §201.3(e), a Certificate of Filing will be provided to the sender.

(iv) If an Annual Statement of Account is sent by certified mail or registered mail, a mailing receipt shall be sufficient to prove that service was timely. If an Annual Statement of Account is delivered by a reputable courier, documentation from the courier showing the first date of attempted delivery shall also be sufficient to prove that service was timely. In the absence of a receipt from the United States Postal Service showing the date of delivery or documentation showing the first date of attempted delivery by a reputable courier, the compulsory licensee shall bear the burden of proving that the Annual Statement of Account was served in a timely manner.

(g) Documentation. All compulsory licensees shall, for a period of at least three years from the date of service of an Annual Statement of Account, keep and retain in their possession all records and documents necessary and appropriate to support fully the information set forth in such Annual Statement and in Monthly Statements served during the fiscal year covered by such Annual Statement.

(17 U.S.C. 115, 702, 708)

[45 FR 79046, Nov. 28, 1980, as amended at 56 FR 7813, Feb. 26, 1991; 56 FR 59885, Nov. 26, 1991; 63 FR 30635, June 5, 1998; 64 FR 29521, June 1, 1999; 64 FR 36574, 36575, July 7, 1999; 64 FR 41289, July 30, 1999; 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001; 69 FR 34584, June 22, 2004; 73 FR 66181, Nov. 7, 2008]

§ 201.20   Methods of affixation and positions of the copyright notice on various types of works.

(a) General.

(1) This section specifies examples of methods of affixation and positions of the copyright notice on various types of works that will satisfy the notice requirement of section 401(c) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553. A notice considered “acceptable” under this regulation shall be considered to satisfy the requirement of that section that it be “affixed to the copies in such manner and location as to give reasonable notice of the claim of copyright.” As provided by that section, the examples specified in this regulation shall not be considered exhaustive of methods of affixation and positions giving reasonable notice of the claim of copyright.

(2) The provisions of this section are applicable to copies publicly distributed on or after December 1, 1981. This section does not establish any rules concerning the form of the notice or the legal sufficiency of particular notices, except with respect to methods of affixation and positions of notice. The adequacy or legal sufficiency of a copyright notice is determined by the law in effect at the time of first publication of the work.

(b) Definitions. For the purposes of this section:

(1) The terms audiovisual works, collective works, copies, device, fixed, machine, motion picture, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, and their variant forms, have the meanings given to them in section 101 of title 17.

(2) Title 17 means title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553.

(3) In the case of a work consisting preponderantly of leaves on which the work is printed or otherwise reproduced on both sides, a “page” is one side of a leaf; where the preponderance of the leaves are printed on one side only, the terms “page” and “leaf” mean the same.

(4) A work is published in book form if the copies embodying it consist of multiple leaves bound, fastened, or assembled in a predetermined order, as, for example, a volume, booklet, pamphlet, or multipage folder. For the purpose of this section, a work need not consist of textual matter in order to be considered published in “book form.”

(5) A title page is a page, or two consecutive pages facing each other, appearing at or near the front of the copies of a work published in book form, on which the complete title of the work is prominently stated and on which the names of the author or authors, the name of the publisher, the place of publication, or some combination of them, are given.

(6) The meaning of the terms front, back, first, last, and following, when used in connection with works published in book form, will vary in relation to the physical form of the copies, depending upon the particular language in which the work is written.

(7) In the case of a work published in book form with a hard or soft cover, the front page and back page of the copies are the outsides of the front and back covers; where there is no cover, the “front page,” and “back page” are the pages visible at the front and back of the copies before they are opened.

(8) A masthead is a body of information appearing in approximately the same location in most issues of a newspaper, magazine, journal, review, or other periodical or serial, typically containing the title of the periodical or serial, information about the staff, periodicity of issues, operation, and subscription and editorial policies, of the publication.

(9) A single-leaf work is a work published in copies consisting of a single leaf, including copies on which the work is printed or otherwise reproduced on either one side or on both sides of the leaf, and also folders which, without cutting or tearing the copies, can be opened out to form a single leaf. For the purpose of this section, a work need not consist of textual matter in order to be considered a “single-leaf work.”

(c) Manner of affixation and position generally.

(1) In all cases dealt with in this section, the acceptability of a notice depends upon its being permanently legible to an ordinary user of the work under normal conditions of use, and affixed to the copies in such manner and position that, when affixed, it is not concealed from view upon reasonable examination.

(2) Where, in a particular case, a notice does not appear in one of the precise locations prescribed in this section but a person looking in one of those locations would be reasonably certain to find a notice in another somewhat different location, that notice will be acceptable under this section.

(d) Works published in book form. In the case of works published in book form, a notice reproduced on the copies in any of the following positions is acceptable:

(1) The title page, if any;

(2) The page immediately following the title page, if any;

(3) Either side of the front cover, if any; or, if there is no front cover, either side of the front leaf of the copies;

(4) Either side of the back cover, if any; or, if there is no back cover, either side of the back leaf of the copies;

(5) The first page of the main body of the work;

(6) The last page of the main body of the work;

(7) Any page between the front page and the first page of the main body of the work, if:

(i) There are no more than ten pages between the front page and the first page of the main body of the work; and

(ii) The notice is reproduced prominently and is set apart from other matter on the page where it appears;

(8) Any page between the last page of the main body of the work and back page, if:

(i) There are no more than ten pages between the last page of the main body of the work and the back page; and

(ii) The notice is reproduced prominently and is set apart from the other matter on the page where it appears.

(9) In the case of a work published as an issue of a periodical or serial, in addition to any of the locations listed in paragraphs (d) (1) through (8) of this section, a notice is acceptable if it is located:

(i) As a part of, or adjacent to, the masthead;

(ii) On the page containing the masthead if the notice is reproduced prominently and is set apart from the other matter appearing on the page; or

(iii) Adjacent to a prominent heading, appearing at or near the front of the issue, containing the title of the periodical or serial and any combination of the volume and issue number and date of the issue.

(10) In the case of a musical work, in addition to any of the locations listed in paragraphs (d) (1) through (9) of this section, a notice is acceptable if it is located on the first page of music.

(e) Single-leaf works. In the case of single-leaf works, a notice reproduced on the copies anywhere on the front or back of the leaf is acceptable.

(f) Contributions to collective works. For a separate contribution to a collective work to be considered to “bear its own notice of copyright,” as provided by 17 U.S.C. 404, a notice reproduced on the copies in any of the following positions is acceptable:

(1) Where the separate contribution is reproduced on a single page, a notice is acceptable if it appears:

(i) Under the title of the contribution on that page;

(ii) Adjacent to the contribution; or

(iii) On the same page if, through format, wording, or both, the application of the notice to the particular contribution is made clear;

(2) Where the separate contribution is reproduced on more than one page of the collective work, a notice is acceptable if it appears:

(i) Under a title appearing at or near the beginning of the contribution;

(ii) On the first page of the main body of the contribution;

(iii) Immediately following the end of the contribution; or

(iv) On any of the pages where the contribution appears, if:

(A) The contribution is reproduced on no more than twenty pages of the collective work;

(B) The notice is reproduced prominently and is set apart from other matter on the page where it appears; and

(C) Through format, wording, or both, the application of the notice to the particular contribution is made clear;

(3) Where the separate contribution is a musical work, in addition to any of the locations listed in paragraphs (f) (1) and (2) of this section, a notice is acceptable if it is located on the first page of music of the contribution;

(4) As an alternative to placing the notice on one of the pages where a separate contribution itself appears, the contribution is considered to “bear its own notice” if the notice appears clearly in juxtaposition with a separate listing of the contribution by title, or if the contribution is untitled, by a description reasonably identifying the contribution:

(i) On the page bearing the copyright notice for the collective work as a whole, if any; or

(ii) In a clearly identified and readily-accessible table of contents or listing of acknowledgements appearing near the front or back of the collective work as a whole.

(g) Works reproduced in machine-readable copies. For works reproduced in machine-readable copies (such as magnetic tapes or disks, punched cards, or the like, from which the work cannot ordinarily be visually perceived except with the aid of a machine or device,1 each of the following constitute examples of acceptable methods of affixation and position of notice:

1 Works published in a form requiring the use of a machine or device for purposes of optical enlargement (such as film, filmstrips, slide films, and works published in any variety of microform) and works published in visually perceptible form but used in connection with optical scanning devices, are not within this category.

(1) A notice embodied in the copies in machine-readable form in such a manner that on visually perceptible printouts it appears either with or near the title, or at the end of the work;

(2) A notice that is displayed at the user's terminal at sign on;

(3) A notice that is continuously on terminal display; or

(4) A legible notice reproduced durably, so as to withstand normal use, on a gummed or other label securely affixed to the copies or to a box, reel, cartridge, cassette, or other container used as a permanent receptacle for the copies.

(h) Motion pictures and other audiovisual works.

(1) The following constitute examples of acceptable methods of affixation and positions of the copyright notice on motion pictures and other audiovisual works: A notice that is embodied in the copies by a photomechanical or electronic process, in such a position that it ordinarily would appear whenever the work is performed in its entirety, and that is located:

(i) With or near the title;

(ii) With the cast, credits, and similar information;

(iii) At or immediately following the beginning of the work; or

(iv) At or immediately preceding the end of the work.

(2) In the case of an untitled motion picture or other audiovisual work whose duration is sixty seconds or less, in addition to any of the locations listed in paragraph (h)(1) of this section, a notice that is embodied in the copies by a photomechanical or electronic process, in such a position that it ordinarily would appear to the projectionist or broadcaster when preparing the work for performance, is acceptable if it is located on the leader of the film or tape immediately preceding the beginning of the work.

(3) In the case of a motion picture or other audiovisual work that is distributed to the public for private use, the notice may be affixed, in addition to the locations specified in paragraph (h)(1) of this section, on the housing or container, if it is a permanent receptacle for the work.

(i) Pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works. The following constitute examples of acceptable methods of affixation and positions of the copyright notice on various forms of pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works:

(1) Where a work is reproduced in two-dimensional copies, a notice affixed directly or by means of a label cemented, sewn, or otherwise attached durably, so as to withstand normal use, of the front or back of the copies, or to any backing, mounting, matting, framing, or other material to which the copies are durably attached, so as to withstand normal use, or in which they are permanently housed, is acceptable.

(2) Where a work is reproduced in three-dimensional copies, a notice affixed directly or by means of a label cemented, sewn, or otherwise attached durably, so as to withstand normal use, to any visible portion of the work, or to any base, mounting, framing, or other material on which the copies are durably attached, so as to withstand normal use, or in which they are permanently housed, is acceptable.

(3) Where, because of the size or physical characteristics of the material in which the work is reproduced in copies, it is impossible or extremely impracticable to affix a notice to the copies directly or by means of a durable label, a notice is acceptable if it appears on a tag that is of durable material, so as to withstand normal use, and that is attached to the copy with sufficient durability that it will remain with the copy while it is passing through its normal channels of commerce.

(4) Where a work is reproduced in copies consisting of sheet-like or strip material bearing multiple or continuous reproductions of the work, the notice may be applied:

(i) To the reproduction itself;

(ii) To the margin, selvage, or reverse side of the material at frequent and regular intervals; or

(iii) If the material contains neither a selvage nor a reverse side, to tags or labels, attached to the copies and to any spools, reels, or containers housing them in such a way that a notice is visible while the copies are passing through their normal channels of commerce.

(5) If the work is permanently housed in a container, such as a game or puzzle box, a notice reproduced on the permanent container is acceptable.

(17 U.S.C. 401, 702)

[46 FR 58312, Dec. 1, 1981, as amended at 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001]

§ 201.21   [Reserved]



§ 201.22   Advance notices of potential infringement of works consisting of sounds, images, or both.

(a) Definitions.

(1) An Advance Notice of Potential Infringement is a notice which, if served in accordance with section 411(b) of title 17 of the United States Code, and in accordance with the provisions of this section, enables a copyright owner to institute an action for copyright infringement either before or after the first fixation of a work consisting of sounds, images, or both that is first fixed simultaneously with its transmission, and to enjoy the full remedies of said title 17 for copyright infringement, provided registration for the work is made within three months after its first transmission.

(2) For purposes of this section, the copyright owner of a work consisting of sounds, images, or both, the first fixation of which is made simultaneously with its transmission, is the person or entity that will be considered the author of the work upon its fixation (including, in the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person or entity for whom the work was prepared), or a person or organization that has obtained ownership of an exclusive right, initially owned by the person or entity that will be considered the author of the work upon its fixation.

(3) A transmission program is a body of material that, as an aggregate, has been produced for the sole purpose of transmission to the public in sequence and as a unit.

(b) Form. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons serving Advance Notices of Potential Infringement.

(c) Contents.

(1) An Advance Notice of Potential Infringement shall be clearly and prominently captioned “ADVANCE NOTICE OF POTENTIAL INFRINGEMENT” and must clearly state that the copyright owner objects to the relevant activities of the person responsible for the potential infringement, and must include all of the following:

(i) Reference to title 17 U.S.C. section 411(b) as the statutory authority on which the Advance Notice of Potential Infringement is based;

(ii) The date, specific time, and expected duration of the intended first transmission of the work or works contained in the specific transmission program;

(iii) The source of the intended first transmission of the work or works;

(iv) Clear identification, by title, of the work or works. A single Advance Notice of Potential Infringement may cover all of the works of the copyright owner embodied in a specific transmission program. If any work is untitled, the Advance Notice of Potential Infringement shall include a detailed description of that work;

(v) The name of at least one person or entity that will be considered the author of the work upon its fixation;

(vi) The identity of the copyright owner, as defined in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. If the copyright owner is not the person or entity that will be considered the author of the work upon its fixation, the Advance Notice of Potential Infringement also shall include a brief, general statement summarizing the means by which the copyright owner obtained ownership of the copyright and the particular rights that are owned; and

(vii) A description of the relevant activities of the person responsible for the potential infringement which would, if carried out, result in an infringement of the copyright.

(2) An Advance Notice of Potential Infringement must also include clear and prominent statements:

(i) Explaining that the relevant activities may, if carried out, subject the person responsible to liability for copyright infringement; and

(ii) Declaring that the copyright owner intends to secure copyright in the work upon its fixation.

(d) Signature and identification.

(1) An Advance Notice of Potential Infringement shall be in writing and signed by the copyright owner, or such owner's duly authorized agent.

(2) The signature of the owner or agent shall be an actual handwritten signature of an individual, accompanied by the date of signature and the full name, address, and telephone number of that person, typewritten or printed legibly by hand.

(3) If an Advance Notice of Potential Infringement is initially served in the form of a telegram or similar communication, as provided by paragraph (e)(2)(iii) of this section, the requirement for an individual's handwritten signature shall be considered waived if the further conditions of said paragraph (e) are met.

(e) Service.

(1) An Advance Notice of Potential Infringement shall be served on the person responsible for the potential infringement not less than 48 hours before the first fixation and simultaneous transmission of the work as provided by 17 U.S.C. 411(b)(1).

(2) Service of the Advance Notice may be effected by any of the following methods:

(i) Personal service;

(ii) First-class mail; or

(iii) Telegram, cablegram, or similar form of communication, if:

(A) The Advance Notice meets all of the other conditions provided by this section; and

(B) Before the first fixation and simultaneous transmission take place, the person responsible for the potential infringement receives written confirmation of the Advance Notice, bearing the actual handwritten signature of the copyright owner or duly authorized agent.

(3) The date of service is the date the Advance Notice of Potential Infringement is received by the person responsible for the potential infringement or by any agent or employee of that person.

(17 U.S.C. 411, 702)

[46 FR 28849, May 29, 1981, as amended at 63 FR 66042, Dec. 1, 1998; 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001]

§ 201.23   Transfer of unpublished copyright deposits to the Library of Congress.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules governing the transfer of unpublished copyright deposits in the custody of the Copyright Office to the Library of Congress. The copyright deposits may consist of copies, phonorecords, or identifying material deposited in connection with registration of claims to copyright under section 408 of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, 90 Stat. 2541, effective January 1, 1978. These rules establish the conditions under which the Library of Congress is entitled to select deposits of unpublished works for its collections or for permanent transfer to the National Archives of the United States or to a Federal records center in accordance with section 704(b) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553.

(b) Selection by the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress may select any deposits of unpublished works for the purposes stated in paragraph (a) of this section at the time of registration or at any time thereafter; Provided, That:

(1) A facsimile reproduction of the entire copyrightable content of the deposit shall be made a part of the Copyright Office records before transfer to the Library of Congress as provided by section 704(c) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553, unless, within the discretion of the Register of Copyrights, it is considered impractical or too expensive to make the reproduction;

(2) All unpublished copyright deposits retained by the Library of Congress in its collections shall be maintained under the control of the Library of Congress with appropriate safeguards against unauthorized copying or other unauthorized use of the deposits which would be contrary to the rights of the copyright owner in the work under title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553; and

(3) At the time selection is made a request for full term retention of the deposit under the control of the Copyright Office has not been granted by the Register of Copyrights, in accordance with section 704(e) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Pub. L. 94–553.

(17 U.S.C. 702, 704)

[45 FR 41414, June 19, 1980]

§ 201.24   Warning of copyright for software lending by nonprofit libraries.

(a) Definition . A Warning of Copyright for Software Rental is a notice under paragraph (b)(2)(A) of section 109 of the Copyright Act, title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by the Computer Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990, Public Law 101–650. As required by that paragraph, the “Warning of Copyright for Software Rental” shall be affixed to the packaging that contains the computer program which is lent by a nonprofit library for nonprofit purposes.

(b) Contents. A Warning of Copyright for Software Rental shall consist of a verbatim reproduction of the following notice, printed in such size and form and affixed in such manner as to comply with paragraph (c) of this section.

Notice: Warning of Copyright Restrictions

The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the reproduction, distribution, adaptation, public performance, and public display of copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in law, nonprofit libraries are authorized to lend, lease, or rent copies of computer programs to patrons on a nonprofit basis and for nonprofit purposes. Any person who makes an unauthorized copy or adaptation of the computer program, or redistributes the loan copy, or publicly performs or displays the computer program, except as permitted by title 17 of the United States Code, may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to fulfill a loan request if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the request would lead to violation of the copyright law.

(c) Form and manner of use. A Warning of Copyright for Software Rental shall be affixed to the packaging that contains the copy of the computer program, which is the subject of a library loan to patrons, by means of a label cemented, gummed, or otherwise durably attached to the copies or to a box, reel, cartridge, cassette, or other container used as a permanent receptacle for the copy of the computer program. The notice shall be printed in such manner as to be clearly legible, comprehensible, and readily apparent to a casual user of the computer program.

[56 FR 7812, Feb. 26, 1991, as amended at 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001]

§ 201.25   Visual Arts Registry.

(a) General. This section prescribes the procedures relating to the submission of Visual Arts Registry Statements by visual artists and owners of buildings, or their duly authorized representatives, for recordation in the Copyright Office under section 113(d)(3) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Public Law 101–650, effective June 1, 1991. Statements recorded in the Copyright Office under this regulation will establish a public record of information relevant to an artist's integrity right to prevent destruction or injury to works of visual art incorporated in or made part of a building.

(b) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for the use of persons recording statements regarding works of visual art that have been incorporated in or made part of a building.

(c) Recordable statements

(1) General. Any statement designated as a “Visual Arts Regulatory Statement” and which pertains to a work of visual art that has been incorporated in or made part of a building may be recorded in the Copyright Office provided the statement is accompanied by the fee for recordation of documents specified in section 708(a)(4) of title 17 of the United States Code. Upon their submission, the statements and an accompanying documentation or photographs become the property of the United States Government and will not be returned. Photocopies are acceptable if they are clear and legible. Information contained in the Visual Arts Registry Statement should be as complete as possible since the information may affect the enforceability of valuable rights under the copyright law. Visual Arts Registry Statements which are illegible or fall outside of the scope of section 113(d)(3) of title 17 may be refused recordation by the Copyright Office.

(2) Statements by artists. Statements by artists regarding a work of visual art incorporated or made part of a building should be filed in a document containing the head: “Registry of Visual Art Incorporated in a Building—Artist's Statement.” The statement should contain the following information:

(i) Identification of the artist, including name, current address, age, and telephone number, if publicly listed.

(ii) Identification of the work or works, including the title, dimensions, and physical description of the work and the copyright registration number, if known. Additionally, it is recommended that one or more 8×10 photographs of the work on good quality photographic paper be included in the submission; the images should be clear and in focus.

(iii) Identification of the building, including its name and address. This identification may additionally include 8×10 photographs of the building and the location of the artist's work in the building.

(iv) Identification of the owner of the building, if known.

(3) Statements by the owner of the building. Statements of owners of a building which incorporates a work of visual art should be filed in a document containing the heading: “Registry of Visual Art Incorporated in a Building—Building Owner's Statement.” The statement should contain the following information:

(i) Identification of the ownership of the building, the name of a person who represents the owner, and a telephone number, if publicly listed.

(ii) Identification of the building, including the building's name and address. This identification may additionally include 8×10 photographs of the building and of the works of visual art which are incorporated in the building.

(iii) Identification of the work or works of visual art incorporated in the building, including the works' title(s), if known, and the dimensions and physical description of the work(s). This identification may include one or more 8×10 photographs of the work(s) on high quality photographic paper; the images should be clear and in focus.

(iv) Identification of the artist(s) who have works incorporated in the building, including the current address of each artist, if known.

(v) Photocopy of contracts, if any, between the artist and owners of the building regarding the rights of attribution and integrity.

(vi) Statement as to the measures taken by the owner to notify the artist(s) of the removal or pending removal of the work of visual art, and photocopies of any accompanying documents.

(4) Updating statements. Either the artist or owner of the building or both may record statements updating previously recorded information by submitting an updated statement and paying the recording fee specified in paragraph (d) of this section. Such statements should repeat the information disclosed in the previous filing as regarding the name of the artist(s), the name of the work(s) of visual art, the name and address of the building, and the name of the owner(s) of the building. The remaining portion of the statement should correct or supplement the information disclosed in the previously recorded statement.

(d) Fee. The fee for recording a Visual Arts Registry Statement, a Building Owner's Statement, or an updating statement is the recordation fee for a document, as prescribed in §201.3(c).

(e) Date of recordation. The date of recordation is the date when all of the elements required for recordation, including the prescribed fee have been received in the Copyright Office. After recordation of the statement, the sender will receive a certificate of record from the Copyright Office. Any documentation or photographs accompanying any submission will be retained and filed by the Copyright Office. They may also be transferred to the Library of Congress, or destroyed after preparing suitable copies, in accordance with usual procedures.

(f) Effect of recordation. The Copyright Office will record statements in the Visual Arts Registry without examination or verification of the accuracy or completeness of the statement, if the statement is designated as a “Visual Arts Registry Statement” and pertains to a work of visual art incorporated in or made part of a building. Recordation of the statement and payment of the recording fee shall establish only the fact of recordation in the official record. Acceptance for recordation shall not be considered a determination that the statement is accurate, complete, and otherwise in compliance with section 113(d), title 17, U.S. Code. The accuracy and completeness of the statement is the responsibility of the artist or building owner who submits it for recordation. Artists and building owners are encouraged to submit accurate and complete statements. Omission of any information, however, shall not itself invalidate the recordation, unless a court of competent jurisdiction finds the statement is materially deficient and fails to meet the minimum requirements of section 113(d) of title 17, U.S. Code.

[56 FR 38341, Aug. 13, 1991, as amended at 64 FR 29522, June 1, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000]

§ 201.26   Recordation of documents pertaining to computer shareware and donation of public domain computer software.

(a) General. This section prescribes the procedures for submission of legal documents pertaining to computer shareware and the deposit of public domain computer software under section 805 of Public Law 101–650, 104 Stat. 5089 (1990). Documents recorded in the Copyright Office under this regulation will be included in the Computer Shareware Registry. Recordation in this Registry will establish a public record of licenses or other legal documents governing the relationship between copyright owners of computer shareware and persons associated with the dissemination or other use of computer shareware. Documents transferring the ownership of some or all rights under the copyright law of computer shareware and security interests in such software should be recorded under 17 U.S.C. 205, as implemented by §201.4.

(b) Definitions

(1) The term computer shareware is accorded its customary meaning within the software industry. In general, shareware is copyrighted software which is distributed for the purposes of testing and review, subject to the condition that payment to the copyright owner is required after a person who has secured a copy decides to use the software.

(2) A document designated as pertaining to computer shareware means licenses or other legal documents governing the relationship between copyright owners of computer shareware and persons associated with the dissemination or other use of computer shareware.

(3) Public domain computer software means software which has been publicly distributed with an explicit disclaimer of copyright protection by the copyright owner.

(c) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for the use of persons recording documents designated as pertaining to computer shareware or for the deposit of public domain computer software.

(d) Recordable Documents

(1) Any document clearly designated as a “Document Pertaining to Computer Shareware” and which governs the legal relationship between owners of computer shareware and persons associated with the dissemination or other use of computer shareware may be recorded in the Computer Shareware Registry.

(2) Submitted documents may be a duplicate original, a legible photocopy, or other legible facsimile reproduction of the document, and must be complete on its face.

(3) Submitted documents will not be returned, and the Copyright Office requests that if the document is considered valuable, that only copies of that document be submitted for recordation.

(4) The Copyright Office encourages the submission of a machine-readable copy of the document in the form of an IBM-PC compatible disk, in addition to a copy of the document itself.

(e) Fee. The fee for recording a document pertaining to computer shareware is the recordation fee for a document, as prescribed in §201.3(c).

(f) Date of recordation. The date of recordation is the date when all of the elements required for recordation, including the prescribed fee have been received in the Copyright Office. After recordation of the statement, the sender will receive a certificate of record from the Copyright Office. The submission will be retained and filed by the Copyright Office, and may be destroyed at a later date after preparing suitable copies, in accordance with usual procedures.

(g) Donation of public domain computer software.

(1) Any person may donate a copy of public domain computer software for the benefit of the Machine-Readable Collections Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Decision as to whether any public domain computer software is suitable for accession to the collections rests solely with the Library of Congress. Materials not selected will be disposed of in accordance with usual procedures, including transfer to other libraries, sale, or destruction. Donation of public domain software may be made regardless of whether a document has been recorded pertaining to the software.

(2) In order to donate public domain software, the following conditions must be met:

(i) The copy of the public domain software must contain an explicit disclaimer of copyright protection from the copyright owner.

(ii) The submission should contain documentation regarding the software. If the documentation is in machine-readable form, a print-out of the documentation should be included in the donation.

(iii) If the public domain software is marketed in a box or other packaging, the entire work as distributed, including the packaging, should be deposited.

(iv) If the public domain software is copy protected, two copies of the software must be submitted.

(3) Donations of public domain software with an accompanying letter of explanation must be sent to the following address: Gift Section, Exchange & Gift Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540–4260.

[58 FR 29107, May 19, 1993, as amended at 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 64 FR 29522, June 1, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000]

§ 201.27   Initial notice of distribution of digital audio recording devices or media.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules pertaining to the filing of an Initial Notice of Distribution in the Copyright Office as required by section 1003(b) of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, Public Law 102–563, title 17 of the United States Code, to obtain a statutory license to import and distribute, or manufacture and distribute, any digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium in the United States.

(b) Definitions

(1) An Initial Notice of Distribution of Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media or Initial Notice is a notice under section 1003(b) of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, Public Law 102–563, title 17 of the United States Code, which is required by that section to be filed in the Copyright Office by an importer or manufacturer of a digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium who has not previously filed notice of the importation or manufacture for distribution of such device or medium in the United States.

(2) The product category of a device or medium is a general class of products made up of functionally equivalent digital audio recording devices or media with substantially the same use in substantially the same environment, including, for example, hand-held portable integrated combination units (“boomboxes”); portable personal recorders; stand-alone home recorders (“tape decks”); home combination systems (“rack systems”); automobile recorders; configurations of tape media (standard cassettes or microcassettes); and configurations of disc media such as 21/2," 3" and 5" discs.

(3) The technology of a device or medium is a product type distinguished by different technical processes for digitally recording musical sounds, such as digital audio tape recorders (DAT), digital compact cassette, (DCC), or recordable compact discs, including minidiscs (MD).

(4) The terms digital audio recording device, digital audio recording medium, distribute, manufacture, and transfer price, have the meanings of the same terms as they are used in section 1001 of the Copyright Act, title 17 of the United States Code, as amended by Public Law 102–563.

(c) Forms. An Initial Notice form may be obtained from the Copyright Office free of charge, by contacting the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, Licensing Division, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20557–6400.

(d) Filing Deadline. Initial Notices shall be filed in the Copyright Office no later than 45 days after the commencement of the first distribution of digital audio recording devices or digital audio recording media in the United States, on or after October 28, 1992. A manufacturer or importer shall file an Initial Notice within 45 days of the first distribution for each new product category and each new technology that the manufacturer or importer has not reported in a previous Initial Notice.

(e) Content of Initial Notices. An Initial Notice of Distribution of Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media shall be identified as such by prominent caption or heading, and shall include the following:

(1) The designation “Importer” or “Manufacturer,” or both, whichever is applicable, followed by the full legal name of the importer or manufacturer of the digital audio recording device or medium, or if the party named is a partnership, the name of the partnership followed by the name of at least one individual partner;

(2) Any trade or business name or names, trademarks, or other indicia of origin that the importer or manufacturer uses or intends to use in connection with the importation, manufacture, or distribution of such digital audio recording device or medium in the United States;

(3) The full United States mailing address of the importer or manufacturer, and the full business address, if different;

(4) The product category and technology of the devices or media imported or manufactured;

(5) The first date (day, month, and year) that distribution commenced, or is to commence;

(6) The signature of an appropriate officer, partner, or agent of the importer or manufacturer, as specified by the Initial Notice form; and

(7) Other information relevant to the importation or manufacture for distribution of digital audio recording devices or media as prescribed on the Initial Notice form provided by the Copyright Office.

(f) Amendments.

(1) The Copyright Office will record amendments to Initial Notices submitted to correct an error or omission in the information given in an earlier Initial Notice. An amendment is not appropriate to reflect developments or changes in facts occurring after the date of signature of an Initial Notice.

(2) An amendment shall:

(i) Be clearly and prominently identified as an “Amendment to an Initial Notice of Distribution of Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media;”

(ii) Identify the specific Initial Notice intended to be amended so that it may be readily located in the records of the Copyright Office;

(iii) Clearly specify the nature of the amendment to be made; and

(iv) Be signed and dated in accordance with this section.

(3) The recordation of an amendment under this paragraph shall have only such effect as may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(g) Recordation.

(1) The Copyright Office will record the Initial Notices and amendments submitted in accordance with this section by placing them in the appropriate public files of the Office. The Copyright Office will advise manufacturers and importers of errors or omissions appearing on the face of documents submitted to it, and will require that any such obvious errors or omissions be corrected before the documents will be recorded. However, recordation by the Copyright Office shall establish only the fact and date thereof; such recordation shall in no case be considered a determination that the document was, in fact, properly prepared or that all of the regulatory requirements to satisfy section 1003 of title 17 have been met.

(2) No fee shall be required for the recording of Initial Notices. The fee for filing an Amendment to an Initial Notice of Distribution of Digital Audio Recording Devices or Media is prescribed in §201.3(e).

[57 FR 55465, Nov. 25, 1992, as amended at 64 FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 72 FR 33692, June 19, 2007]

§ 201.28   Statements of Account for digital audio recording devices or media.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules pertaining to the filing of Statements of Account and royalty fees in the Copyright Office as required by 17 U.S.C. 1003(c) and 1004, in order to import and distribute, or manufacture and distribute, in the United States any digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) Annual statement of account is the statement required under 17 U.S.C. 1003, to be filed no later than two months after the close of the accounting period covered by the annual statement.

(2) Device and medium have the same meaning as digital audio recording device and digital audio recording medium , respectively, have in 17 U.S.C. 1001.

(3) Digital audio recording product means digital audio recording devices and digital audio recording media.

(4) Generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS) , means the auditing standards promulgated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

(5) Manufacturing or importing party refers to any person or entity that manufactures and distributes, and/or imports and distributes, any digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium in the United States, and is required under 17 U.S.C. 1003 to file with the Copyright Office quarterly and annual Statements of Account.

(6) Product category of a device or medium is a general class of products made up of functionally equivalent digital audio recording products with substantially the same use in substantially the same environment, including, for example, hand-held portable integrated combination units (“boomboxes”); portable personal recorders; stand-alone home recorders (“tape decks”); home combination systems (“rack systems”); automobile recorders; configurations of tape media (standard cassettes or microcassettes); and configurations of disc media, such as 21/2inch, 3 inch, or 5 inch discs.

(7) Primary auditor is the certified public accountant retained by the manufacturing or importing party to audit the amounts reported in the annual Statement of Account submitted to the Copyright Office. The primary auditor may be the certified public accountant engaged by the manufacturing or importing party to perform the annual audit of the party's financial statement.

(8) Quarterly statement of account is the statement accompanying royalty payments required under 17 U.S.C. 1003, to be filed for each of the first three quarters of the accounting year, and no later than 45 days after the close of the quarterly period covered by the statement.

(9) Technology of a device or medium is a digital audio recording product-type distinguished by different technical processes for digitally recording musical sounds, such as digital audio tape recorders (DAT), digital compact cassettes (DCC), or recordable compact discs, including minidiscs (MD).

(10) Distribute, manufacture, transfer price, and serial copying have the meanings set forth in 17 U.S.C. 1001.

(c) Accounting periods and filing deadlines

(1) Election of filing basis. Statements of Account may be filed on either a calendar or fiscal year basis at the election of the manufacturing party. The election of a calendar or fiscal year basis must be made when the manufacturing or importing party files its first quarterly Statement of Account by appropriate designation on the Form DART/Q submitted. Thereafter the specific calendar or fiscal-year accounting period must be designated on each quarterly Statement of Account. The filing basis may be changed at any time upon notification in writing to the Register of Copyrights, accompanied by a statement of reasons as to why the change is to be made and a statement that such change will not affect the aggregate royalties due under the earlier basis. The notification of change in filing basis must be made at least two months before the date the next quarterly Statement of Account is due to be filed.

(2) Quarterly filings. Quarterly Statements of Account shall be filed on Form DART/Q and shall cover a three-month period corresponding to the calendar or fiscal year of the filing party. A quarterly statement shall be filed no later than 45 days after the close of the period it covers.

(3) Annual filings. Annual Statements of Account shall be filed on Form DART/A and shall cover both the fourth quarter of an accounting year and the aggregate of the entire year corresponding to the calendar or fiscal accounting year elected. An annual statement shall be filed no later than two months after the close of the period it covers. As a transitional measure, however, the first annual Statement of Account filed after October 28, 1992, is not due until March 1, 1994, or two months after the end of the calendar or fiscal year in which the manufacturing or importing party first filed a quarterly Statement of Account, whichever is later. The first annual Statement of Account shall cover the entire period from October 28, 1992, to the end of the full accounting year. The appropriate royalty payment, calculated according to the instructions contained in Form DART/A, shall accompany the annual Statement of Account covering royalties due for the filing year: that is, royalties for the fourth quarter and any additional royalties that are due because of adjustments in the aggregate amounts of devices or media distributed.

(4) Early or late filings. Statements of Account and royalty fees received before the end of the particular accounting period covered by the statement will not be processed by the Office. The statement must be filed after the close of the relevant accounting period. Statements of Account and royalty fees received after the 45-day deadline for quarterly statements or the two-month deadline for annual statements will be accepted for whatever legal effect they may have and will be assessed the appropriate interest charge for the late filing.

(d) Forms.

(1) Each quarterly or annual Statement of Account shall be submitted on the appropriate form prescribed by the Copyright Office. Computation of the royalty fee shall be in accordance with the procedures set forth in the forms and this section. Statement of Account forms are available from the Licensing Division, Library of Congress. Forms and other information may be requested from the Licensing Division by facsimile transmission (FAX), but copies of Statement of Account forms transmitted to the Office by FAX will not be accepted.

(2) Forms prescribed by the Copyright Office are designated Quarterly Statement of Account for Digital Audio Recording Products (Form DART/Q) and Annual Statement of Account for Digital Audio Recording Products (Form DART/A).

(e) Contents of quarterly Statements of Account

(1) Quarterly period and filing. Any quarterly Statement of Account shall cover the full quarter of the calendar or fiscal accounting year for the particular quarter for which it is filed. A separate quarterly statement shall be filed for each quarter of the first three quarters of the accounting year during which there is any activity relevant to the payment of royalties under 17 U.S.C. 1004. The annual Statement of Account identified in paragraph (f) of this section incorporates the fourth quarter of the accounting year.

(2) General content. Each quarterly Statement of Account shall be filed on Form DART/Q, the “Quarterly Statement of Account for Digital Audio Recording Products,” and shall include a clear statement of the following information:

(i) A designation of the calendar or fiscal year of the annual reporting period;

(ii) A designation of the period, including the beginning and ending day, month, and year of the period covered by the quarter;

(iii) The full legal name of the manufacturing and/or importing party, together with any “doing-business-as” names used by such person or entity for the purpose of conducting the business of manufacturing, importing, or distributing digital audio recording products;

(iv) The full mailing address of the manufacturing or importing party, including a specific number and street name, or rural route and box number, of the place of business of the person or entity. A post office box or similar designation will not be sufficient for this purpose except where it is the only address that can be used in that geographic location;

(v) A designation of the manufacturing or importing party status, i.e. , “Manufacturer,” “Importer,” or “Manufacturer and Importer;”

(vi) The designation “Product Categories” together with the product categories of the digital audio recording products manufactured or imported and distributed during the quarter covered by the statement;

(vii) The designation “Technologies” together with the technologies of the digital audio recording products manufactured or imported and distributed under the AHRA during the quarter covered by the statement;

(viii) The designation “Series or Model Number” followed by the model or series numbers of the digital audio recording products manufactured or imported and distributed under the AHRA during the quarter covered by the statement;

(ix) The “fee code” associated with the product;

(x) The “source code” for the product category;

(xi) The “transfer price” of the product;

(xii) The “number of units distributed” for each product;

(xiii) The “minimum fee per unit” for each product;

(xiv) The statutory royalty “rate” for digital audio recording devices or media;

(xv) The “rate fee” for each product;

(xvi) The appropriate “maximum fee per unit” for each product;

(xvii) The “maximum fee” for each product; and

(xviii) A computation of the total royalty payable for the quarter covered by the statement. Filing parties may not round off the figures they list in Space C, the computation section of the form, except for the figure representing the total royalty fee due; in that case, numbers ending in 50 to 99 cents may be rounded up to the next dollar, and numbers ending in one to 49 cents may be rounded down to the next dollar;

(3) Royalty payments and accounting. (i) The royalty specified in 17 U.S.C. 1004 shall accompany the quarterly and annual Statements of Account. No royalty is payable for redistribution of the same product item unless a credit has been taken for such items. Where royalties are payable for the period covered by the statement, the Statement of Account shall contain the following information for each unique combination of product category, technology, series or model number, fee code, source code, and transfer price:

(A) The total number of digital audio recording media distributed, multiplied by the statutory royalty rate of three percent (3%) of the transfer price;

(B) The total number of digital audio recording devices distributed for which the statutory royalty rate of two percent (2%) of the transfer price is payable, multiplied by such percentage rate of the transfer price;

(C) The total number of digital audio recording devices distributed for which the statutory maximum royalty is limited to eight dollars ($8.00), multiplied by such eight dollar amount;

(D) The total number of digital audio recording devices distributed for which the statutory maximum royalty is limited to twelve dollars ($12.00), multiplied by such twelve dollar amount; and

(E) The total number of digital audio recording devices distributed for which the statutory minimum royalty is limited to one dollar ($1.00), multiplied by such one dollar amount.

(ii) The amount of the royalty payment shall be calculated in accordance with the instructions specified in the quarterly Statement of Account form. Payment shall be made as specified in §201.28(h).

(4) Reduction of royalty fee. (i) Section 1004(a)(2)(A) of title 17 of the United States Code, provides an instance in which royalty payments may be reduced if the digital audio recording device and such other devices are part of a physically integrated unit, the royalty payment shall be based on the transfer price of the unit, but shall be reduced by any royalty payment made on any digital audio recording device included within the unit that was not first distributed in combination with the unit.

(ii) Notice of this provision together with directions for possible application to a product is contained in the DART/Q Form.

(5) Contact party. Each Statement of Account shall include the name, address, and telephone and facsimile (FAX) numbers of an individual whom the Copyright Office can write or call about the Statement of Account.

(6) Credits for returned or exported products. When digital audio recording products first distributed in the United States for ultimate transfer to United States consumers are returned to the manufacturer or importer as unsold or defective merchandise, or are exported, the manufacturing or importing party may take a credit to be deducted from the royalties payable for the period when the products were returned or exported. The credit may be taken only for returns or exports made within two years following the date royalties were paid for the products. This credit must be reflected in the manufacturing or importing party's quarterly or annual Statement of Account. If the manufacturer or importer later redistributes in the United States any products for which a credit has been taken, these products must be listed on the Statement of Account, and a new computation of the royalty fee must be made based on the transfer price of the products at the time of the new distribution.

(7) Oath and signature. Each Statement of Account shall include the handwritten signature of an authorized officer, principal, or agent of the filing party. The signature shall be accompanied by:

(i) The printed or typewritten name of the person signing the quarterly Statement of Account;

(ii) The date the document is signed;

(iii) The following certification:

I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an authorized officer, principal, or agent of the “manufacturing or importing party” identified in Space B.


Penalties for fraud and false statements are provided under 18 U.S.C. 1001 et. seq.

(f) Contents of annual Statements of Account

(1) General contents. Each annual Statement of Account shall be filed on form DART/A, “Annual Statement of Account for Digital Audio Recording Products.” It must be filed by any importer or manufacturer that distributed in the United States, during a given calendar or fiscal year, any digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium. The annual statement shall cover the aggregate of the distribution of devices and media for the entire year corresponding to the calendar or fiscal year elected. The annual Statement of Account shall contain the information, oath, and certification prescribed in paragraphs (e)(2)(i) through (e)(7)(iii) of this section, and shall cover the entire accounting year, including the fourth quarter distribution, and shall also provide for the reconciliation of the aggregated accounting of digital audio recording devices and media for the reported accounting year.

(2) Reconciliation. Any royalty payment due under sections 1003 and 1004 of title 17 that was not previously paid with the filing party's first three quarterly Statements of Account, shall be reconciled in the annual statement. Reconciliation in the annual Statement of Account provides for adjustments for reductions, refunds, underpayments, overpayments, credits, and royalty payments paid in Quarters 1, 2, and 3, and shall be computed in accordance with the instructions included in the annual Statement of Account. Errors that require reconciliation shall be corrected immediately upon discovery.

(3) Accountant's opinion. Each annual Statement of Account or any amended annual Statement of Account shall be audited by the primary auditor as defined in paragraph (b)(7) of this section. An amendment may be submitted to the Office either as a result of responses to questions raised by a Licensing Division examiner or on the initiative of the manufacturing or importing party to correct an error in the original Statement of Account.

(i) The audit shall be performed in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS). The audit may be performed in conjunction with an annual audit of the manufacturing or importing party's financial statements.

(ii) The CPA shall issue a report, the “primary auditor's report,” reflecting his or her opinion as to whether the annual statement presents fairly, in all material respects, the number of digital audio recording devices and media that were imported and distributed, or manufactured and distributed, by the manufacturing or importing party during the relevant year, and the amount of royalty payments applicable to them under 17 U.S.C. chapter 10, in accordance with that law and these regulations.

(iii) The primary auditor's report shall be filed with the Copyright Office together with the annual Statement of Account, within two months after the end of the annual period for which the annual Statement of Account is prepared. The report may be qualified to the extent necessary and appropriate.

(iv) The Copyright Office does not provide a specific form, or require a specific format, for the CPA's review; however, in addition to the above, certain items must be named as audited items. These include the variables necessary to complete Space C of the Statement of Account form. The CPA may place his or her opinion, which will serve as the “primary auditor's report,” in the space provided on Form DART/A, or may attach a separate sheet or sheets containing the opinion.

(v) The auditor's report shall be signed by an individual, or in the name of a partnership or a corporation, and shall include city and state of execution, certificate number, jurisdiction of certificate, and date of opinion. The certificate number and jurisdiction are not required if the report is signed in the name of a partnership or a corporation.

(g) Copies of statements of account. A licensee shall file an original and one copy of the statement of account with the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office.

(h) Royalty fee payment .

(1) All royalty fees must be paid by a single electronic funds transfer, and must be received in the designated bank by the filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. The following information must be provided as part of the EFT and/or as part of the remittance advice as provided for in circulars issued by the Copyright Office:

(i) Remitter's name and address;

(ii) Name of a contact person, telephone number and extension, and email address;

(iii) The actual or anticipated date that the EFT will be transmitted;

(iv) Type of royalty payment ( i.e. , DART);

(v) Total amount submitted via the EFT;

(vi) Total amount to be paid by year and period;

(vii) Number of Statements of Account that the EFT covers;

(viii) ID numbers assigned by the Licensing Division;

(ix) Legal name of the owner for each Statement of Account.

(2) The remittance advice shall be attached to the Statement(s) of Account. In addition, a copy of the remittance advice shall be emailed or sent by facsimile to the Licensing Division.

(3) The Office may waive the requirement for payment by electronic funds transfer as set forth in paragraph (1) of this section. To obtain a waiver, the remitter shall submit to the Licensing Division at least 60 days prior to the royalty fee due date a certified statement setting forth the reasons explaining why payment by an electronic funds transfer would be virtually impossible or, alternatively, why it would impose a financial or other hardship on the remitter. The certified statement must be signed by a duly authorized representative of the entity making the payment. A waiver shall cover only a single payment period. Failure to obtain a waiver may result in the remittance being returned to the remitter.

(i) Documentation. All filing parties shall keep and retain in their possession, for at least three years from the date of filing, all records and documents necessary and appropriate to support fully the information set forth in quarterly and annual statements that they file.

(j) Corrections, supplemental payments, and refunds

(1) General. Upon compliance with the procedures and within the time limits set forth in this paragraph (i), corrections to quarterly and annual Statements of Account will be placed on record, and supplemental royalty fee payments will be received for deposit, or refunds without interest will be issued, in the following cases:

(i) Where, with respect to the accounting period covered by the quarterly or annual Statement of Account, any of the information given in the statement filed in the Copyright Office is incorrect or incomplete; or

(ii) Where, for any reason except that mentioned in paragraph (j)(2) of this section, calculation of the royalty fee payable for a particular accounting period was incorrect, and the amount deposited in the Copyright Office for that period was either too high or too low.

(2) Corrections to quarterly or annual Statements of Account will not be placed on file, supplemental royalty fee payments will not be received for deposit, and refunds will not be issued, where the information in the Statements of Account, the royalty fee calculations, or the payments were correct as of the date on which the accounting period ended, but changes (for example, cases where digital audio recording media were exported) took place later.

(3) Requests that corrections to annual or quarterly Statements of Account be accepted, that fee payments be accepted, or that refunds be issued shall be addressed to the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office, and shall meet the following conditions:

(i) The request shall be made in writing and must clearly identify the manufacturing or importing party making the request, the accounting period in question, and the purpose of the request. A request for a refund must be received in the Copyright Office before the expiration of two months from the last day of the applicable Statement of Account filing period. A request made by telephone or by telegraphic or similar unsigned communication will be considered to meet this requirement if it clearly identifies the basis of the request, is received in the Copyright Office within the two-month period, and a written request meeting all the conditions of this paragraph (j)(3) is also received in the Copyright Office within 14 days after the end of such two-month period.

(ii) The request must clearly identify the incorrect or incomplete information formerly filed and must provide the correct or additional information.

(iii) In the case where a royalty fee was miscalculated and the amount deposited with the Copyright Office was too large or too small, the request must be accompanied by an affidavit under the official seal of any officer authorized to administer oaths within the United States, or a statement in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 1746, made and signed in accordance with paragraph (e)(7) of this section. The affidavit or statement shall describe the reasons why the royalty fee was improperly calculated and include a detailed analysis of the proper royalty calculation.

(iv) Following final processing, all requests will be filed with the original Statement of Account in the records of the Copyright Office. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be considered to relieve manufacturing or importing parties of their full obligations under title 17 of the United States Code, and the filing of a correction or supplemental payment shall have only such effect as may be attributed to it by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(v)

(A) The request must be accompanied by a filing fee in the amount prescribed in §201.3(e) for each Statement of Account involved. Payment of this fee may be in the form of a personal or company check, or a certified check, cashier's check, or money order, payable to the Register of Copyrights. No request will be processed until the appropriate filing fees are received.

(B) Requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be deposited must be accompanied by a remittance in the full amount of such fee. Payment of the supplemental royalty fee must be in the form of a certified check, cashier's check, money order, or electronic payment payable to the Register of Copyrights. No such request will be processed until an acceptable remittance in the full amount of the supplemental royalty fee has been received.

(vi) All requests submitted under paragraph (j) of this section must be signed by the manufacturing or importing party named in the Statement of Account, or the duly authorized agent of that party in accordance with paragraph (e)(7) of this section.

(vii) A request for a refund is not necessary where the Licensing Division, during its examination of a Statement of Account or related document, discovers an error that has resulted in a royalty overpayment. In this case, the Licensing Division will forward the royalty refund to the manufacturing or importing party named in the Statement of Account. The Copyright Office will not pay interest on any royalty refunds.

(k) Examination of Statements of Account by the Copyright Office.

(1) Upon receiving a Statement of Account and royalty fee, the Copyright Office will make an official record of the actual date when such statement and fee were physically received in the Copyright Office. Thereafter, the Licensing Division will examine the statement for obvious errors or omissions appearing on the face of the documents and will require that any such obvious errors or omissions be corrected before final processing of the document is completed. If, as the result of communications between the Copyright Office and the manufacturer or importer, an additional fee is deposited or changes or additions are made in the Statement of Account, the date that additional deposit or information was actually received in the Office will be added to the official record.

(2) Completion by the Copyright Office of the final processing of a Statement of Account and royalty fee deposit shall establish only the fact of such completion and the date or dates of receipt shown in the official record. It shall not be considered a determination that the Statement of Account was, in fact, properly prepared and accurate, that the correct amount of the royalty was deposited, that the statutory time limits for filing had been met, or that any other requirements of 17 U.S.C. 1001 et. seq. were fulfilled.

(l) Interest on late payments or underpayments.

(1) Royalty payments submitted as a result of late payments or underpayments shall include interest, which shall begin to accrue on the first day after the close of the period for filing Statements of Account for all late payments or underpayments of royalties for the digital audio recording obligation occurring within that accounting period. The accrual period shall end on the date the electronic payment submitted by the remitter is received. In cases where a waiver of the electronic funds transfer requirement is approved by the Copyright Office, and royalties payments are either late or underpaid, the accrual period shall end on the date the payment is postmarked. If the payment is not received by the Copyright Office within five business days of its date, then the accrual period shall end on the date of the actual receipt by the Copyright Office.

(2) The interest rate applicable to a specific accounting period shall be the Current Value of Funds rate in accordance with the Treasury Financial Manual, at 1 TFM 6–8025.40, in effect on the first business day after the close of the filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. The interest rate for a particular accounting period may be obtained by consulting the Federal Register for the applicable Current Value of Funds Rate, or by contacting the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office.

(3) Interest is not required to be paid on any royalty underpayment or late payment from a particular accounting period if the interest charge is five dollars ($5.00) or less.

(m) Confidentiality of Statements of Account. Public access to the Copyright Office files of Statements of Account for digital audio recording products shall not be provided. Access will only be granted to interested copyright parties in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Register of Copyrights pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 1003(c).

[59 FR 4589, Feb. 1, 1994, as amended at 64 FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 65 FR 48914, Aug. 10, 2000; 70 FR 30367, May 26, 2005; 70 FR 38022, July 1, 2005; 71 FR 45740, Aug. 10, 2006; 72 FR 33692, June 19, 2007; 73 FR 29073, May 20, 2008]

§ 201.29   Access to, and confidentiality of, Statements of Account, Verification Auditor's Reports, and other verification information filed in the Copyright Office for digital audio recording devices or media.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules covering access to DART Statements of Account, including the Primary Auditor's Reports, filed under 17 U.S.C. 1003(c) and access to a Verifying Auditor's Report or other information that may be filed in the Office in a DART verification procedure as set out in §201.30. It also prescribes rules to ensure confidential disclosure of these materials to appropriate parties.

(b) Definitions.

(1) Access includes inspection of and supervised making of notes on information contained in Statements of Account including Primary Auditor's Reports, Verification Auditor's Reports, and any other verification information.

(2) Audit and Verification Information means the reports of the Primary Auditor and Verifying Auditor filed with the Copyright Office under §§201.28 and 201.30, and all information relating to a manufacturing or importing party.

(3) DART Access Form means the form provided by the Copyright Office that must be completed and signed by any appropriate party seeking access to DART confidential material.

(4) DART confidential material means the Quarterly and Annual Statements of Account, including the Primary Auditor's Report that is part of the Annual Statements of Account, and the Verifying Auditor's Report and any other verification information filed with the Copyright Office. It also includes photocopies of notes made by requestors who have had access to these materials that are retained by the Copyright Office.

(5) Interested copyright party means a party as defined in 17 U.S.C. 1001(7).

(6) A Representative is someone, such as a lawyer or accountant, who is not an employee or officer of an interested copyright party or a manufacturing or importing party but is authorized to act on that party's behalf.

(7) Statements of Account means Quarterly and Annual Statements of Account as required under 17 U.S.C. 1003(c) and defined in §201.28.

(c) Confidentiality. The Copyright Office will keep all DART confidential materials in locked files and disclose them only in accordance with this section. Any person or entity provided with access to DART confidential material by the Copyright Office shall receive such information in confidence and shall use and disclose it only as authorized in 17 U.S.C. 1001 et. seq.

(d) Persons allowed access to DART confidential material. Access to DART Statements of Account filed under 17 U.S.C. 1003(c) and to Verification Auditor's Reports or other verification information is limited to:

(1) An interested copyright party as defined in §201.29(b)(5) or an authorized representative of an interested copyright party, who has been qualified for access pursuant to paragraph (f)(2) of this section;

(2) The Verifying Auditor authorized to conduct verification procedures under §201.30;

(3) The manufacturing or importing party who filed that Statement of Account or that party's authorized representative(s); and

(4) Staff of the Copyright Office or the Library of Congress who require access in the performance of their duties under title 17 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.;

(e) Requests for access. An interested copyright party, manufacturing party, importing party, representative, or Verifying Auditor seeking access to any DART confidential material must complete and sign a “DART Access Form.” The requestor must submit a copy of the completed DART Access Form to the Licensing Specialist, Licensing Division. The form must be received in the Licensing Division at least 5 working days before the date an appointment is requested. The form may be faxed to the Licensing Division to expedite scheduling, but a copy of the form with the original signature must be filed with the Office.

(1) A representative of an interested copyright party, a manufacturing party or an importing party shall submit an affidavit of his or her authority (e.g., in the form of a letter of authorization from the interested copyright party or the manufacturing or importing party).

(2) An auditor selected to conduct a verification procedure under §201.30 shall submit an affidavit of his or her selection to conduct the verification procedure.

(3) DART Access Forms may be requested from, and upon completion returned to: Library of Congress, Copyright Office, Licensing Division, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20557–6400. They may also be requested or submitted in person at the Licensing Division, Room LM–504, James Madison Memorial Building, First and Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

(f) Criteria for access to DART confidential material.

(1) A Verifying Auditor will be allowed access to any particular Statement of Account and Primary Auditor's Report required to perform his or her verification function;

(2) Interested copyright parties as defined in paragraph (b)(5) of this section will be allowed access to any DART confidential material as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section for verification purposes, except that no interested copyright party owned or controlled by a manufacturing or importing party subject to royalty payment obligations under the Audio Home Recording Act, or who owns or controls such a manufacturing or importing party, may have access to DART confidential material relating to any other manufacturing or importing party. In such cases, a representative of the interested copyright party as defined in paragraph (b)(6) of this section may have access for that party, provided that these representatives do not disclose the confidential information contained in the Statement of Account or Primary Auditor's Report to his or her client.

(3) Access to a Verifying Auditor's Report and any other verification material filed in the Office shall be limited to the interested copyright party(s) requesting the verification procedure and to the manufacturing or importing party whose Statement of Account was the subject of the verification procedure.

(g) Denial of access. Any party who does not meet the criteria described in §201.29(f) shall be denied access.

(h) Content of DART Access Form. The DART Access Form shall include the following information:

(1) Identification of the Statement of Account and Primary Auditor's Report, the Verification Auditor's Report and other verification materials, or notes prepared by requestors who earlier accessed the same items, to be accessed, by both the name (of the manufacturing party or importing party) and the quarter(s) and year(s) to be accessed.

(2) The name of the interested copyright party, manufacturing party, importing party, or verification auditor on whose behalf the request is made, plus this party's complete address, including a street address (not a post office box number), a telephone number, and a telefax number, if any.

(3) If the request for access is by or for an interested copyright party, a statement indicating whether the copyright party is owned or controlled by a manufacturing or importing party subject to a royalty payment obligation, or whether the interested copyright party owns or controls a manufacturing or importing party subject to royalty payments.

(4) The name, address, and telephone number of the person making the request for access and his/her relationship to the party on whose behalf the request is made.

(5) The specific purpose for the request for access, for example, access is requested in order to verify a Statement of Account; in order to review the results of a verification audit; for the resolution of a dispute arising from such an audit; or in order for a manufacturing or importing party to review its own Statement of Account, Primary Auditor's Report, Verification Auditor's Report, or related information.

(6) A statement that the information obtained from access to Statements of Account, Primary Auditor's Report, Verification Auditor's Report, and any other verification audit filings will be used only for a purpose permitted under the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) and the DART regulations.

(7) The actual signature of the party or the representative of the party requesting access certifying that the information will be held in confidence and used only for the purpose specified by the Audio Home Recording Act and these regulations.

[60 FR 25998, May 16, 1995, as amended at 63 FR 30635, June 5, 1998; 64 FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.30   Verification of Statements of Account.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules pertaining to the verification of information contained in the Statements of Account by interested copyright parties pursuant to section 1003(c) of title 17 of the United States Code.

(b) Definitions

(1) Annual Statement of Account, generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS), and primary auditor have the same meaning as the definition in §201.28 of this part.

(2) Filer is a manufacturer or importer of digital devices or media who is required by 17 U.S.C. 1003 to file with the Copyright Office Quarterly and Annual Statements of Account and a primary auditor's report on the Annual Statement of Account.

(3) Interested copyright party has the same meaning as the definition in §201.29 of this part.

(4) Verifying auditor is the person retained by interested copyright parties to perform a verification procedure. He or she is independent and qualified as defined in paragraphs (j)(2) and (j)(3) of this section.

(5) Verification procedure is the process followed by the verifying auditor to verify the information reported on an Annual Statement of Account.

(c) Purpose of verification. The purpose of verification is to determine whether there was any failure of the primary auditor to conduct the primary audit properly or to obtain a reliable result, or whether there was any error in the Annual Statement of Account.

(d) Timing of verification procedure

(1) Requesting a verification procedure. No sooner than three months nor later than three years after the filing deadline of the Annual Statement of Account to be verified, any interested copyright party shall notify the Register of Copyrights of its interest in instituting a verification procedure. Such notification of interest shall also be served at the same time on the filer and the primary auditor identified in the Annual Statement of Account. Such notification shall include the year of the Annual Statement of Account to be verified, the name of the filer, information on how other interested copyright parties may contact the party interested in the verification including name, address, telephone number, facsimile number and electronic mail address, if any, and a statement establishing the party filing the notification as an interested copyright party. The notification of interest may apply to more than one Annual Statement of Account and more than one filer.

(2) Coordination and selection of verifying auditor. The Copyright Office will publish in the Federal Register notice of having received a notification of interest to institute a verification procedure. Interested copyright parties have one month from the date of publication of the Federal Register notice to notify the party interested in instituting the verification procedure of their intent to join with it and to participate in the selection of the verifying auditor. Any dispute about the selection of the verifying auditor shall be resolved by the parties themselves.

(3) Notification of the filer and primary auditor. As soon as the verifying auditor has been selected, and in no case later than two months after the publication in the Federal Register of the notice described in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, the joint interested copyright parties shall notify the Register of Copyrights, the filer, and the primary auditor identified in the Annual Statement of Account to be verified, that they intend or do not intend to initiate a verification procedure.

(4) Commencement of the verification procedure. The verification procedure shall begin no sooner than one month after notice of intent to initiate a verification procedure was given to the filer and the primary auditor by the joint interested copyright parties. The joint interested copyright parties shall grant the filer or the primary auditor a postponement of the beginning of the verification procedure of up to one additional month if either one requests it. Verification procedures shall be conducted at reasonable times during normal business hours.

(5) Anti-duplication rules. A filer shall be subject to no more than one verification procedure per calendar year. An Annual Statement of Account shall be subject to a verification procedure only once.

(e) Scope of verification. The verifying auditor shall limit his or her examination to verifying the information required in the Annual Statement of Account. To the extent possible, the verifying auditor shall inspect the information contained in the primary auditor's report and the primary auditor's working papers. If the verifying auditor believes that access to the records, files, or other materials in the control of the filer is required according to GAAS, he or she may, after consultation with the primary auditor, require the production of these documents as well. The verifying auditor and the primary auditor shall act in good faith using reasonable professional judgment, with the intention of reaching a reasonable accommodation as to the necessity and scope of examination of any additional documents, but the decision to require the production of additional documents is solely that of the verifying auditor.

(f) Verification report. Upon concluding the verification procedure, the verifying auditor shall render a report enumerating in reasonable detail the procedures performed by the verifying auditor and his or her findings. Such findings shall state whether there was any failure of the primary auditor to conduct properly the primary audit or obtain a reliable result, and whether there was any error in the Annual Statement of Account, itemized by amount and by the filer's elected fiscal year. If there was such failure or error, the report shall specify all evidence from which the verifying auditor reached such conclusions. Such evidence shall be listed and identified in an appendix to the report in sufficient detail to enable a third party to reasonably understand or interpret the evidence on which the verifying auditor based his or her conclusion. If there was no such failure or error, the report shall so state.

(g) Distribution of report. Copies of the verifying auditor's report shall be subject to the confidentiality provisions of §201.29 and shall be distributed as follows:

(1) One copy, excluding the appendix, if applicable, shall be filed with the Register of Copyrights.

(2) One copy, with the appendix, if applicable, shall be submitted to each of the interested copyright parties who retained the services of the verifying auditor and who are authorized to receive such information according to §201.29.

(3) One copy, with the appendix, if applicable, shall be submitted to the filer of the Annual Statement of Account.

(4) One copy, with the appendix, if applicable, shall be submitted to the primary auditor.

(h) Retention of report. The Register of Copyrights will retain his or her copy of the verifying auditor's report for three years following the date the copy of the verifying auditor's report is filed.

(i) Costs of verification. The joint interested copyright parties who requested the verification procedure shall pay the fees of the verifying auditor and the primary auditor for their work performed in connection with the verification procedure, except, if the verification procedure results in a judicial determination or the filer's agreement that royalty payments were understated on the Annual Statement of Account, then,

(1) if the amount is less than five percent (5%) of the amount stated on the Annual Statement of Account, that amount shall first be used to pay the fees of the verifying auditor and the primary auditor, and any remaining amount plus any applicable interest on the total amount shall be deposited, allocated by the filer's elected fiscal year, with the Register of Copyrights, or

(2) if the amount is equal to or greater than five percent (5%) of the amount stated on the Annual Statement of Account, the filer shall pay the fees of the verifying auditor and the primary auditor, and, in addition, shall deposit the amount found to be due plus any applicable interest on the total amount, allocated by the filer's elected fiscal year, with the Register of Copyrights.

(j) Independence and qualifications of verifying auditor.

(1) The verifying auditor shall be qualified and independent as defined in this section. If the filer has reason to believe that the verifying auditor is not qualified or independent, it shall raise the matter with the joint interested copyright parties before the commencement of the verification procedure, and if the matter is not resolved, it may raise the issue with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' Professional Ethics Division and/or the verifying auditor's State Board of Accountancy while the verification procedure is being performed.

(2) A verifying auditor shall be considered qualified if he or she is a certified public accountant or works under the supervision of a certified public accounting firm.

(3) A verifying auditor shall be considered independent if:

(i) He or she is independent as that term is used in the Code of Professional Conduct of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, including the Principles, Rules and Interpretations of such Code applicable generally to attest engagements (collectively, the “AICPA Code”); and

(ii) He or she is independent as that term is used in the Statements on Auditing Standards promulgated by the Auditing Standards Board of the AICPA and Interpretations thereof issued by the Auditing Standards Division of the AICPA.

[61 FR 30813, June 18, 1996]

§ 201.31   Procedures for copyright restoration in the United States for certain motion pictures and their contents in accordance with the North American Free Trade Agreement.

(a) General. This section prescribes the procedures for submission of Statements of Intent pertaining to the restoration of copyright protection in the United States for certain motion pictures and works embodied therein as required by the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (NAFTA) of December 8, 1993, Public Law No. 103–182. On or after January 3, 1995, the Copyright Office will publish in the Federal Register a list of works for which potential copyright owners have filed a complete and timely Statement of Intent with the Copyright Office.

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) Effective filing. To be effective a Statement of Intent must be complete and timely.

(2) Eligible work means any motion picture that was first fixed or published in Mexico or Canada, and any work included in such motion picture that was first fixed or published with this motion picture, if the work entered the public domain in the United States because it was first published on or after January 1, 1978, and before March 1, 1989, without the notice required by 17 U.S.C. 401, 402, or 403, the absence of which has not been excused by the operation of 17 U.S.C. 405, as such sections were in effect during that period.

(3) Fixed means a work ‘fixed’ in a tangible medium of expression when its embodiment in a copy or phonorecord, by or under the authority of the author, is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration. A work consisting of sounds, images, or both, that are being transmitted, is ‘fixed’ for purposes of this title if a fixation of the work is being made simultaneously with its transmission. 17 U.S.C. 101

(4) Potential copyright owner means the person who would have owned any of the exclusive rights comprised in a copyright in the United States in a work eligible for copyright restoration under NAFTA, if the work had not fallen into the public domain for failure to comply with the statutory notice requirements in effect at the time of first publication, or any successor in interest to such a person.

(5) Published means distribution of copies of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.

(c) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide Statement of Intent forms for the use of potential copyright owners who want to restore copyright protection in eligible works.

(d) Requirements for effective Statements of Intent.

(1) The document should be clearly designated as a “Statement of Intent to restore copyright protection in the United States in accordance with the North American Free Trade Agreement”.

(2) Statements of Intent must include:

(i) The title(s) of the work(s) for which copyright restoration is sought, including any underlying work(s) that has a title(s) different from the title of the motion picture, provided all works are owned by the same potential copyright owner;

(ii) The nation of first fixation;

(iii) The nation of first publication;

(iv) The date of first publication;

(v) The name and mailing address (and telephone and telefax, if applicable) of the potential copyright owner of the work;

(vi) The following certification (in its entirety); signed and dated by the potential copyright owner or authorized agent:

Certification and Signature: I hereby certify that each of the above titled works was first fixed or first published in ____________________


(insert Mexico or Canada) and understand that the work(s) have entered the public domain in the United States of America because of first publication on or after January 1, 1978, and before March 1, 1989, without the notice required by U.S. copyright law. I certify that the information given herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, and understand that any knowing or willful falsification of material facts may result in criminal liability under 18 U.S.C. 1001.Signature:____________________
Name (Printed or Typed):____________________
Date:____________________

(3) If copyright restoration is sought for an underlying work only, the Statement of Intent must specify the kind of underlying work covered and give the title if different from the title of the motion picture.

(4) More than one motion picture may be included in a single Statement of Intent provided the potential copyright owner is the same for all the motion pictures. The information required in §201.31 (d)(2)(i) through (d)(2)(iv) must be given for each work.

(5) Sports programs that do not have a title can be identified in a Statement of Intent by giving the sporting event, the team names and the date (month, day and year).

(6) Statements of Intent must be received in the Copyright Office on or before December 31, 1994.

(7) Statements of Intent must be in English and either typed or legibly printed by hand, on 8 1/2 inch by 11 inch white paper.

(e) Fee. The Copyright Office is not requiring a fee for the processing of Statements of Intent.

(f) Effective date of restoration of copyright protection.

(1) Potential copyright owners of eligible works who file a complete and timely Statement of Intent with the Copyright Office will have copyright protection restored in these works effective January 1, 1995.

(2) The new section 17 U.S.C. 104A(c) created by the NAFTA Implementation Act gives a one year exemption to U.S. nationals or domiciliaries who made or acquired copies of a motion picture or its contents before December 8, 1993, the date of enactment of the implementing act. These individuals or entities may continue to sell, distribute, or perform publicly such works without liability for a period of one year following the Copyright Office's publication in the Federal Register of the list of the works determined to be properly qualified for protection and for which complete and timely Statements of Intent have been filed.

(g) Registration of works whose copyright has been restored. After January 1, 1995, the Copyright Office encourages potential copyright owners to make voluntary copyright registration in accordance with 17 U.S.C. 408 for works that have had copyright restored in accordance with NAFTA.

[59 FR 12164, Mar. 16, 1994, as amended at 59 FR 58789, Nov. 15, 1994; 60 FR 50420, Sept. 29, 1995; 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001]

§ 201.32   [Reserved]



§ 201.33   Procedures for filing Notices of Intent to Enforce a restored copyright under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

(a) General. This section prescribes the procedures for submission of Notices of Intent to Enforce a Restored Copyright under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, as required in 17 U.S.C. 104A(a). On or before May 1, 1996, and every four months thereafter, the Copyright Office will publish in the Federal Register a list of works for which Notices of Intent to Enforce have been filed. It will maintain a list of these works. The Office will also make a more complete version of the information contained in the Notice of Intent to Enforce available on its automated database, which can be accessed over the Internet.

(b) Definitions

(1) NAFTA work means a work restored to copyright on January 1, 1995, as a result of compliance with procedures contained in the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of December 8, 1993, Public Law No. 103–182.

(2) Reliance party means any person who—

(i) With respect to a particular work, engages in acts, before the source country of that work becomes an eligible country under the URAA, which would have violated 17 U.S.C. 106 if the restored work had been subject to copyright protection and who, after the source country becomes an eligible country, continues to engage in such acts;

(ii) Before the source country of a particular work becomes an eligible country, makes or acquires one or more copies or phonorecords of that work; or

(iii) As the result of the sale or other disposition of a derivative work, covered under the new 17 U.S.C. 104A(d)(3), or of significant assets of a person, described in the new 17 U.S.C. 104 A(d)(3) (A) or (B), is a successor, assignee or licensee of that person.

(3) Restored work means an original work of authorship that—

(i) Is protected under 17 U.S.C. 104A(a);

(ii) Is not in the public domain in its source country through expiration of term of protection;

(iii) Is in the public domain in the United States due to—

(A) Noncompliance with formalities imposed at any time by United States copyright law, including failure of renewal, lack of proper notice, or failure to comply with any manufacturing requirements;

(B) Lack of subject matter protection in the case of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972; or

(C) Lack of national eligibility; and

(iv) Has at least one author or rightholder who was, at the time the work was created, a national or domiciliary of an eligible country, and if published, was first published in an eligible country and not published in the United States during the 30-day period following publication in such eligible country.

(4) Source country of a restored work is—

(i) A nation other than the United States; and

(ii) In the case of an unpublished work—

(A) The eligible country in which the author or rightholder is a national or domiciliary, or, if a restored work has more than one author or rightholder, the majority of foreign authors or rightholders are nationals or domiciliaries of eligible countries; or

(B) If the majority of authors or rightholders are not foreign, the nation other than the United States which has the most significant contacts with the work; and

(iii) In the case of a published work—

(A) The eligible country in which the work is first published; or

(B) If the restored work is published on the same day in two or more eligible countries, the eligible country which has the most significant contacts with the work.

(c) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for Notices of Intent to Enforce filed with the Copyright Office. It requests that filers of such notices follow the format set out in Appendix A of this section and give all of the information listed in paragraph (d) of this section. Notices of Intent to Enforce must be in English, and should be typed or printed by hand legibly in dark, preferably black, ink, on 81/2by 11 inch white paper of good quality, with at least a one inch (or three cm) margin.

(d) Requirements for Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

(1) Notices of Intent to Enforce should be sent to the following address: GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024, USA.

(2) The document should be clearly designated as “Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act”.

(3) Notices of Intent to Enforce must include:

(i) Required information:

(A) The title of the work, or if untitled, a brief description of the work;

(B) An English translation of the title if title is in a foreign language;

(C) Alternative titles if any;

(D) Name of the copyright owner of the restored work, or of an owner of an exclusive right therein;

(E) The address and telephone number where the owner of copyright or the exclusive right therein can be reached; and

(F) The following certification signed and dated by the owner of copyright, or the owner of an exclusive right therein, or the owner's authorized agent:

I hereby certify that for each of the work(s) listed above, I am the copyright owner, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the owner's authorized agent, the agency relationship having been constituted in a writing signed by the owner before the filing of this notice, and that the information given herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Signature____________________
Name (printed or typed)____________________
As agent for (if applicable)____________________
Date:____________________

(ii) Optional but essential information:

(A) Type of work (painting, sculpture, music, motion picture, sound recording, book, etc.);

(B) Name of author(s);

(C) Source country;

(D) Approximate year of publication;

(E) Additional identifying information (e.g., for movies: director, leading actors, screenwriter, animator; for photographs or books: subject matter; for books: editor, publisher, contributors);

(F) Rights owned by the party on whose behalf the Notice of Intent to Enforce is filed (e.g., the right to reproduce/distribute/publicly display/publicly perform the work, or to prepare a derivative work based on the work, etc.); and

(G) Telefax number at which owner, exclusive rights holder, or agent thereof can be reached.

(4) Notices of Intent to Enforce may cover multiple works provided that each work is identified by title, all the works are by the same author, all the works are owned by the identified copyright owner or owner of an exclusive right, and the rights owned by the party on whose behalf the Notice of Intent is filed are the same. In the case of Notices of Intent to Enforce covering multiple works, the notice must separately designate for each work covered the title of the work, or if untitled, a brief description of the work; an English translation of the title if the title is in a foreign language; alternative titles, if any; the type of work; the source country; the approximate year of publication; and additional identifying information.

(5) Notices of Intent to Enforce works restored on January 1, 1996, may be submitted to the Copyright Office on or after January 1, 1996, through December 31, 1997.

(e) Fee—(1) Amount. The filing fee for recording Notices of Intent to Enforce is prescribed in §201.3(c).

(2) Method of Payment —(i) Checks, money orders, or bank drafts. The Copyright Office will accept checks, money orders, or bank drafts made payable to the Register of Copyrights. Remittances must be redeemable without service or exchange fees through a United States institution, must be payable in United States dollars, and must be imprinted with American Banking Association routing numbers. International money orders, and postal money orders that are negotiable only at a post office are not acceptable. CURRENCY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

(ii) Copyright Office Deposit Account. The Copyright Office maintains a system of Deposit Accounts for the convenience of those who frequently use its services. The system allows an individual or firm to establish a Deposit Account in the Copyright Office and to make advance deposits into that account. Deposit Account holders can charge copyright fees against the balance in their accounts instead of sending separate remittances with each request for service. For information on Deposit Accounts please write: Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559–6000, and request a copy of Circular 5, “How to Open and Maintain a Deposit Account in the Copyright Office.”

(iii) Credit cards. For URAA filings the Copyright Office will accept VISA, MasterCard and American Express. Debit cards cannot be accepted for payment. With the NIE, a filer using a credit card must submit a separate cover letter stating the name of the credit card, the credit card number, the expiration date of the credit card, the total amount, and a signature authorizing the Office to charge the fees to the account. To protect the security of the credit card number, the filer must not write the credit card number on the Notice of Intent to Enforce.

(f) Public online access.

(1) Almost all of the information contained in the Notice of Intent to Enforce is available online in the Copyright Office History Documents (COHD) file through the Library of Congress electronic information system LC MARVEL through the Internet. Except on Federal holidays, this information may be obtained on terminals in the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time or over the Internet Monday - Friday 6:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. U.S. Eastern Time, Saturday 8:00 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

(2) Alternative ways to connect through Internet are: (i) use the Copyright Office Home Page on the World Wide Web at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright, (ii) telnet to locis.loc.gov or the numeric address 140.147.254.3, or (iii) telnet to marvel.loc.gov, or the numeric address 140.147.248.7 and log in as marvel, or (iv) use a Gopher Client to connect to marvel.loc.gov.

(3) Information available online includes: the title or brief description if untitled; an English translation of the title; the alternative titles if any; the name of the copyright owner or owner of an exclusive right; the author; the type of work; the date of receipt of the NIE in the Copyright Office; the date of publication in the Federal Register ; the rights covered by the notice; and the address, telephone and telefax number (if given) of the copyright owner.

(4) Online records of Notices of Intent to Enforce are searchable by the title, the copyright owner or owner of an exclusive right, and the author.

(g) NAFTA work. The copyright owner of a work restored under NAFTA by the filing of a NAFTA Statement of Intent to Restore with the Copyright Office prior to January 1, 1995, is not required to file a Notice of Intent to Enforce under this regulation.

Appendix A to §201.33—Notice of Intent To Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA)1. Title:____________________


  (If this work does not have a title, state “No title.”) OR

  Brief description of work (for untitled works only): ____ ____________________
2. English translation of title (if applicable):____________________
3. Alternative title(s) (if any):____________________
4. Type of work:____________________


  (e.g. painting, sculpture, music, motion picture, sound recording, book) 5. Name of author(s):____________________
6. Source country:____________________
7. Approximate year of publication:____________________
8. Additional identifying information:____________________


(e.g. for movies; director, leading actors, screenwriter, animator, for photographs: subject matter; for books; editor, publisher, contributors, subject matter).9. Name of copyright owner:____________________


(Statements may be filed in the name of the owner of the restored copyright or the owner of an exclusive right therein.)

10. If you are not the owner of all rights, specify the rights you own: ____________________


(e.g. the right to reproduce/distribute publicly display/publicly perform the work, or to prepare a derivative work based on the work)

11. Address at which copyright owner may be contacted: ____________________
____________________


(Give the complete address, including the country and an “attention” line, or “in care of” name, if necessary.)12. Telephone number of owner:____________________
13. Telefax number of owner:____________________


14. Certification and Signature:

I hereby certify that, for each of the work(s) listed above, I am the copyright owner, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the owner's authorized agent, the agency relationship having been constituted in a writing signed by the owner before the filing of this notice, and that the information given herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. Signature:____________________
Name (printed or typed):____________________
As agent for (if applicable):____________________
Date:____________________
Note: Notices of Intent to Enforce must be in English, except for the original title, and either typed or printed by hand legibly in dark, preferably black, ink. They should be on 81/2" by 11" white paper of good quality, with at least a 1-inch (or 3 cm) margin.

[60 FR 50420, Sept. 29, 1995, as amended at 63 FR 30635, June 5, 1998; 64 FR 12902, Mar. 16, 1999; 71 FR 31092, June 1, 2006; 73 FR 37839, July 1, 2008]

§ 201.34   Procedures for filing Correction Notices of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

(a) General. This section prescribes the procedures for submission of corrections of Notices of Intent to Enforce a Copyright (NIEs) Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act of December 8, 1994, as required by 17 U.S.C. 104A(e), as amended by Pub. L. 103–465, 108 Stat. 4809, 4976 (1994).

(b) Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply.

(1) Major error. A major error in filing a Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act is an error in the name of the copyright owner or rightholder, or in the title of the work (as opposed to its translation, if any) where such error fails to adequately identify the restored work or its owner through a reasonable search of the Copyright Office NIE records. Omission of, or incorrect information regarding, a written agency relationship also constitutes a major error.

(2) Minor error. A minor error in filing a Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act is any error that is not a major error.

(3) Restored work. For the definition of works restored under the URAA, see 37 CFR 201.33.

(c) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide forms for Correction Notices of Intent to Enforce filed with the Copyright Office. It requests that filers of such Correction NIEs follow the format set out in Appendix A of this section and give all information listed in paragraph (d) of this section. Correction NIEs must be in English, and should be typed or legibly printed by hand in dark, preferably black ink, on 81/2" by 11" white paper of good quality with at least a 1" (or three cm) margin.

(d) Requirements for Correction Notice of Intent to Enforce a Copyright Restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.

(1) A correction for a Notice of Intent to Enforce should be clearly designated as a “Correction Notice of Intent to Enforce” or “Correction NIE.”

(2) Correction Notices of Intent to Enforce should be sent to the following address: URAA/GATT, NIEs and Registrations, PO Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024, USA.

(3) A Correction NIE shall contain the following information:

(i) The volume and document number of the previous NIE which is to be corrected;

(ii) The title of the work as it appears on the previous NIE, including alternative titles, if they appear;

(iii) The English translation of the title, if any, as it appears on the previous NIE;

(iv) A statement of the erroneous information as it appears on the previous NIE;

(v) A statement of the correct information as it should have appeared and an optional explanation of its correction; or

(vi) A statement of the information to be added. This includes optional information such as:

(A) Type of work;

(B) Rights owned by the party on whose behalf the Correction Notice is filed;

(C) Name of author;

(D) Source country;

(E) Year of publication;

(F) Alternative titles;

(G) An optional explanation of the added information.

(vii) The name and address:

(A) To which correspondence concerning the document should be sent; and

(B) To which the acknowledgment of the recordation of the Correction NIE should be mailed; and

(viii) A certification. The certification shall consist of:

(A) A statement that, for each of the works named above, the person signing the Correction NIE is the copyright owner, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the owner's authorized agent, and that the information is correct to the best of that person's knowledge;

(B) The typed or printed name of the person whose signature appears;

(C) The signature and date of signature; and

(D) The telephone and telefax number at which the owner, rightholder, or agent thereof can be reached.

(4) A Correction NIE may cover multiple works in multiple NIE documents for one fee provided that: each work is identified by title; all the works are by the same author; all the works are owned by the same copyright owner or owner of an exclusive right. In the case of Correction NIEs, the notice must separately designate each title to be corrected, noting the incorrect information as it appeared on the previously filed NIE, as well as the corrected information. A single notice covering multiple titles need bear only a single certification.

(5) Copies, phonorecords or supporting documents cannot be made part of the record of a Correction NIE and should not be submitted with the document.

(6) Time for submitting Correction NIEs. (i) Major errors. The Copyright Office will accept a Correction NIE for a major error concerning a restored work during the 24-month period beginning on the date of restoration of the work, as provided for original NIEs in section 104A(d)(2)(A) of title 17.

(ii) Minor errors. The Office will accept a Correction NIE for a minor error or omission concerning a restored work at any time after the original NIE has been filed, as provided in section 104A(e)(1)(A)(iii) of title 17.

(e) Fee—(1) Amount. The filing fee for recording Correction NIEs is prescribed in §201.3(c).

(2) Method of payment. See 37 CFR 201.33(e)(1),(2).

(f) Public online access. Information contained in the Correction Notice of Intent to Enforce is available online in the Copyright Office History Documents (COHD) file through the Library of Congress electronic information system, available through the Internet. This file is available from computer terminals located in the Copyright Office itself or from terminals located in other parts of the Library of Congress through the Library of Congress Information System (LOCIS). Alternative ways to connect through Internet are the World Wide Web (WWW), using the Copyright Office Home Page at: http:/www.loc.gov/copyright; directly to LOCIS through the telnet address at locis.loc.gov; or the Library of Congress through gopher LC MARVEL and WWW which are available 24 hours a day. LOCIS is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. For the purpose of researching the full Office record of Correction NIEs on the Internet, the Office has made online searching instructions accessible through the Copyright Office Home Page. Researchers can access them through the Library of Congress Home Page on the World Wide Web by selecting the copyright link. Select the menu item “Copyright Office Records” and/or “URAA, GATT Amends U.S. law.” Images of the complete Correction NIEs as filed will be stored on optical disk and will be available from the Copyright Office.

Appendix A to §201.34—Correction Notice of Intent To Enforce

Correction of Notice of Intent To Enforce

1. Name of Copyright Owner (or owner of exclusive right) If this correction notice is to cover multiple works, the author and the rights owner must be the same for all works covered by the notice.) ____________________


2. Title(s) (or brief description)

(a) Work No. 1—___

Volume and Document Number: ___

English Translation: ___

(b) Work No. 2 (if applicable)—___

Volume and Document Number: ___

English Translation: ___

(c) Work No. 3 (if applicable)—___

Volume and Document Number: ___

English Translation: ___

(d) Work No. 4 (if applicable)—___

Volume and Document Number: ___

English Translation: ___

3. Statement of incorrect information on earlier NIE: ____________________


4. Statement of correct (or previously omitted) information: ____________________


Give the following only if incorrect or omitted on earlier NIE:

(a) Type of work ___

(b) Rights owned ___

(c) Name of author (of entire work) ___

(d) Source Country ___

(e) Year of Publication (Approximate if precise year is unknown) ___

(f) Alternative titles ___

5. Explanation of error: ____________________


6. Certification and Signature: I hereby certify that for each of the work(s) listed above, I am the copyright owner, or the owner of an exclusive right, or the owner's authorized agent, the agency relationship having been constituted in a writing signed by the owner before the filing of this notice, and that the information given herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge. ____________________


Name and Address (typed or printed): ____________________


Telephone/Fax:

As agent for: ____________________


Date and Signature: ____________________

[62 FR 55739, Oct. 28, 1997, as amended at 71 FR 31092, June 1, 2006; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008]

§§ 201.35-201.37   [Reserved]



§ 201.38   Designation of agent to receive notification of claimed infringement.

(a) General. This section prescribes interim rules under which service providers may provide the Copyright Office with designations of agents to receive notification of claimed infringement under section 512(c)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code, as amended. These interim rules shall remain in effect until more comprehensive rules have been promulgated following a notice of proposed rulemaking and receipt of public comments.

(b) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for filing an Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement.

(c) Content. An “Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement” shall be identified as such by prominent caption or heading, and shall include the following information with respect to a single service provider:

(1) The full legal name and address of the service provider;

(2) All names under which the service provider is doing business;

(3) The name of the agent designated to receive notification of claimed infringement;

(4) The full address, including a specific number and street name or rural route, of the agent designated to receive notification of claimed infringement. A post office box or similar designation will not be sufficient except where it is the only address that can be used in that geographic location;

(5) The telephone number, facsimile number, and electronic mail address of the agent designated to receive notification of claimed infringement.

(d) Signature. The Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement shall include the signature of the appropriate officer or representative of the service provider designating the agent. The signature shall be accompanied by the printed or typewritten name and title of the person signing the Notice, and by the date of signature.

(e) Filing. A service provider may file the Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement with the Copyright Information Section, Room LM–401, James Madison Memorial Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC, during normal business hours, 9 am to 5 pm. If mailed, the Interim Designation should be addressed to: Copyright GC/I&R, PO Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024. Each designation shall be accompanied by a filing fee for Recordation of an Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement under section 512(c)(2) in the amount prescribed in §201.3(c). Designations and amendments will be posted online on the Copyright Office's website ( http://www.loc.gov/copyright ).

(f) Amendments. In the event of a change in the information reported in an Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement, a service provider shall file with the Copyright Information Section an amended Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement, containing the current information required by §201.38(c). The amended Interim Designation shall be signed in accordance with the requirements of §201.38(d) and shall be accompanied by a fee equal to the amount prescribed in §201.3(c) for Recordation of an Interim Designation of Agent to Receive Notification of Claimed Infringement under section 512(c)(2).

(g) Termination and dissolution. If a service provider terminates its operations, the entity shall notify the Copyright Office by certified or registered mail.

[63 FR 59234, Nov. 3, 1998, as amended at 67 FR 38005, May 31, 2002; 72 FR 5932, Feb. 8, 2007; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.39   Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules under which copyright owners or their agents may provide notice to qualified libraries and archives (including a nonprofit educational institution that functions as such) that a published work in its last 20 years of copyright protection is subject to normal commercial exploitation, or that a copy or phonorecord of the work can be obtained at a reasonable price, for purposes of section 108(h)(2) of title 17 of the United States Code.

(b) Format. The Copyright Office provides a required format for a Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price, and for continuation sheets for group notices. The required format is set out in Appendix A to this section, and is available from the Copyright Office website ( http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright ). The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms. The Notice shall be in English (except for an original title, which may be in another language), typed or printed legibly in dark ink, and shall be provided on 81/2×11 inch white paper with a one-inch margin.

(c) Required content. A “Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price” shall be identified as such by prominent caption or heading, and shall include the following:

(1) The acronym NLA in capital, and preferably bold, letters in the top right-hand corner of the page;

(2) A check-box just below the acronym NLA indicating whether continuation sheets for additional works are attached;

(3) The title of the work, or if untitled, a brief description of the work;

(4) The author(s) of the work;

(5) The type of work (e.g., music, motion picture, book, photograph, illustration, map, article in a periodical, painting, sculpture, sound recording, etc.);

(6) The edition, if any (e.g., first edition, second edition, teacher's edition) or version, if any (e.g., orchestral arrangement, translation, French version). If there is no information relating to the edition or version of the work, the notice should so state;

(7) The year of first publication;

(8) The year the work first secured federal copyright through publication with notice or registration as an unpublished work;

(9) The copyright renewal registration number (except this information is not required for foreign works in which copyright is restored pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 104A);

(10) The name of the copyright owner (or the owner of exclusive rights);

(11) If the copyright owner is not the owner of all rights, a specification of the rights owned (e.g., the right to reproduce/distribute/publicly display/publicly perform the work or to prepare a derivative work);

(12) The name, address, telephone number, fax number (if any) and e-mail address (if any) of the person or entity that the Copyright Office should contact concerning the Notice;

(13) The full legal name, address, telephone number, fax number (if any) and e-mail address (if any) of the person or entity that Libraries and Archives may contact concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at reasonable price; and

(14) A declaration made under penalty of perjury that the work identified is subject to normal commercial exploitation, or that a copy or phonorecord of the work is available at a reasonable price.

(d) Additional content. A Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price may include the following:

(1) The original copyright registration number of the work; and

(2) Additional information concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at a reasonable price.

(e) Signature. The Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price shall include the signature of the copyright owner or its agent. The signature shall be accompanied by the printed or typewritten name and title of the person signing the Notice, and by the date of signature.

(f) Multiple works. A Notice to Libraries and Archives may be filed for more than one work. The first work shall be identified using the format required for all Notices to Libraries and Archives. Each additional work in the group must be identified on a separate continuation sheet. The required format for the continuation sheet is set out in Appendix B to this section, and is available from the Copyright Office website ( http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright ). A group filing is permitted provided that:

(1) All the works are by the same author;

(2) All the works are owned by the same copyright owner or owner of the exclusive rights therein. If the claimant is not owner of all rights, the claimant must own the same rights with respect to all works in the group;

(3) All the works first secured federal copyright in the same year, through either publication with notice or registration as unpublished works;

(4) All the works were first published in the same year;

(5) The person or entity that the Copyright Office should contact concerning the Notice is the same for all the works; and

(6) The person or entity that Libraries and Archives may contact concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at reasonable price is the same for all the works.

(g) Filing

(1) Method of filing. The Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price should be addressed to: NLA, Library of Congress, Copyright Office, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20559–6000. If delivered by hand, it should be delivered during normal business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., to the Copyright Information Section, Room LM–401, James Madison Memorial Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC.

(2) Amount. The filing fee for recording Notice to Libraries and Archives is prescribed in §201.3(d).

(3) Method of payment —(i) Checks, money orders, or bank drafts. The Copyright Office will accept checks, money orders, or bank drafts made payable to the Register of Copyrights. Remittances must be redeemable without service or exchange fees through a United States institution, must be payable in United States dollars, and must be imprinted with American Banking Association routing numbers. Postal money orders that are negotiable only at a post office and international money orders are not acceptable. CURRENCY IS NOT ACCEPTED.

(ii) Copyright Office Deposit Account. The Copyright Office maintains a system of Deposit Accounts for the convenience of those who frequently use its services. The system allows an individual or firm to establish a Deposit Account in the Copyright Office and to make advance deposits into that account. Deposit Account holders can charge copyright fees against the balance in their accounts instead of sending separate remittances with each request for service. For information on Deposit Accounts, visit the Copyright Office website or write: Copyright Office, Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20559–6000, and request a copy of Circular 5, “How to Open and Maintain a Deposit Account in the Copyright Office.”

Appendix A to §201.39—Required Format of Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price

NLA

o Check box if continuation sheets for additional works are attached.

Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price

1. Title of the work (or, if untitled, a brief description of the work): __________.

2. Author(s) of the work: __________.

3. Type of work (e.g. music, motion picture, book, photograph, illustration, map, article in a periodical, painting, sculpture, sound recording, etc.): __________.

4. Edition, if any (e.g., first edition, second edition, teacher's edition) or version, if any (e.g., orchestral arrangement, English translation of French text). If there is no information available relating to the edition or version of the work, the Notice should state, “No information available”: __________.

5. Year of first publication: _____.

6. Year the work first secured federal copyright through publication with notice or registration as an unpublished work: _____.

7. Copyright renewal registration number (not required for foreign works restored under 17 U.S.C. 104A): _____.

8. Full legal name of the copyright owner (or the owner of exclusive rights): _____.

9. The person or entity identified in space #8 owns:

o all rights.

o the following rights (e.g., the right to reproduce/distribute/publicly display/publicly perform the work or to prepare a derivative work): _____.

10. Person or entity that the Copyright Office should contact concerning the Notice: o Name:____________________
o Address:____________________
o Telephone:____________________
o Fax number (if any):____________________
o E-mail address (if any):____________________


11. Person or entity that libraries and archives may contact concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at a reasonable price: o Name:____________________
o Address:____________________
o Telephone:____________________
o Fax number (if any):____________________
o E-mail address (if any):____________________


Additional Content (OPTIONAL):

12. Original copyright registration number: __________

13. Additional information concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at a reasonable price: __________

Declaration:

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States:

o that each work identified in this notice is subject to normal commercial exploitation.

o that a copy or phonorecord of each work identified in this notice is available at a reasonable price.Signature:____________________
Date:____________________
o Typed or printed name:____________________
o Title:____________________


Appendix B to §201.39—Required Format for Continuation Sheet

NLA CON

Page __of __Pages.

Continuation Sheet for NLA Notice to Libraries and Archives of Normal Commercial Exploitation or Availability at Reasonable Price

1. Title of the work (or, if untitled, a brief description of the work): __________.

2. Type of work (e.g. music, motion picture, book, photograph, illustration, map, article in a periodical, painting, sculpture, sound recording, etc.): __________.

3. Edition, if any (e.g., first edition, second edition, teacher's edition) or version, if any (e.g., orchestral arrangement, English translation of French text). If there is no information available relating to the edition or version of the work, the Notice should state, “No information available”: __________.

4. Copyright renewal registration number (not required for foreign works restored under 17 U.S.C. 104A): __________.

Additional Content (OPTIONAL):

5. Original copyright registration number: __________.

6. Additional information concerning the work's normal commercial exploitation or availability at a reasonable price: __________.

[63 FR 71787, Dec. 30, 1998, as amended at 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001; 71 FR 31092, June 1, 2006; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008]

§ 201.40   Exemption to prohibition against circumvention.

(a) General. This section prescribes the classes of copyrighted works for which the Librarian of Congress has determined, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(1)(C) and (D), that noninfringing uses by persons who are users of such works are, or are likely to be, adversely affected. The prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works set forth in 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(1)(A) shall not apply to such users of the prescribed classes of copyrighted works.

(b) Classes of copyrighted works. Pursuant to the authority set forth in 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(1)(C) and (D), and upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, the Librarian has determined that during the period from November 27, 2006 through October 27, 2009, the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works set forth in 17 U.S.C. 1201(a)(1)(A) shall not apply to persons who engage in noninfringing uses of the following six classes of copyrighted works:

(1) Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university's film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.

(2) Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

(3) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

(4) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book's read–aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

(5) Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.

(6) Sound recordings, and audiovisual works associated with those sound recordings, distributed in compact disc format and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully purchased works and create or exploit security flaws or vulnerabilities that compromise the security of personal computers, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing, investigating, or correcting such security flaws or vulnerabilities.

(c) Definition. “Specialized format,” “digital text” and “authorized entities” shall have the same meaning as in 17 U.S.C. 121.

[65 FR 64574, Oct. 27, 2000, as amended at 68 FR 62018, Oct. 31, 2003; 71 FR 68479, Nov. 27, 2006]


August 1, 2007

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