U.S. Copyright Office
Library of Congress
Annual Report 2002: Mandatory Deposit

The Copyright Office is entitled to receive copies of every copyrightable work published in the United States within three months of publication, as provided by the mandatory deposit provision in section 407 of the copyright law. These deposit copies are made available to the Library of Congress for its collections or for exchange or transfer to other libraries. The Copyright Acquisitions Division (CAD) uses the mandatory deposit requirement and Copyright Office regulations to acquire works needed for the collections of the Library of Congress when those works have not been obtained as registration deposits. Although the Division encourages copyright owners to deposit or register works regularly and voluntarily as soon as possible after publication, the copyright law authorizes the Register to issue demands for the required copies any time after publication.

CAD made demands for 3,967 works, based on recommendations by CAD librarians and Library of Congress recommending officers, and in response to congressional requests.

Of the 896,504 copies of works transferred by the Copyright Office to the Library of Congress for its use, 390,150, with an estimated value of $9,239,703, were received under the mandatory deposit provisions of the copyright law.



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