[Federal Register: March 21, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 55)]
[Notices]
[Page 13715-13722]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
[Docket No. 97-2]
Registration Procedures
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Notice of inquiry.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office issues this Notice of Inquiry to seek
information relating to the proposed adoption of a different design for
certificates of registration issued through the Copyright Office
Electronic Registration, Recordation, Deposit System (CORDS). The
considerable additional time and cost to program software to create
certificates which identically reproduce the paper-based
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system led the Copyright Office to consider alternatives.
DATES: Comments should be received on or before April 21, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties should submit 15 copies of their written
comments to the Office of the General Counsel, Copyright GC/IR, P.O.
Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, D.C. 20024. Comments
delivered by hand should be submitted to the Office of the General
Counsel, Copyright Office, James Madison Memorial Building, Room 403,
First Street and Independence Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C. 20559-
6000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marilyn J. Kretsinger, Assistant
General Counsel, or Kent Dunlap, Principal Legal Advisor, Copyright GC/
IR, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, D.C. 20024.
Telephone: (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Background
One of the most significant responsibilities assigned to the
Copyright Office by Title 17 of the U.S. Code is the registration of
copyright claims. Sections 408-412 generally set forth the nature of
the registration system. Central to the administration of this system
is the issuance of certificates of registration, which are legal
documents providing evidence of the validity of the copyright claim and
the underlying facts.
The content of the application is determined by section 409,
enumerating ten items of information relevant to the copyright claim
and granting the Register of Copyrights discretion to require
additional information.
Sections 410(a) and (c) primarily determine the nature of the
certificate of registration. Section 410(a) authorizes the Register of
Copyrights after examination to issue ``a certificate of registration
under the seal of the Copyright Office'' containing ``the information
given in the application, together with the number and effective date
of the registration.'' Section 410(c) provides: ``In any judicial
proceedings the certificate of a registration made before or within
five years after first publication of the work shall constitute prima
facie evidence of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated
in the certificate. The evidentiary weight to be accorded the
certificate of a registration made thereafter shall be within the
discretion of the court.''
2. The CORDS Registration System
The Copyright Office has always manually handled all of the
materials submitted for copyright registration. A goal of CORDS is to
develop and test an electronic system for copyright registration with
copyright applications and copies of works transmitted in digital form
over communications networks, such as the Internet. Signatures on these
CORDS electronic claims will be digital rather than handwritten.
CORDS has been under development since 1993, as a joint project of
the U.S. Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, working with the
Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI). Developing the
testbed system with support from the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and the Library of Congress, CNRI is leading a national
effort with the Copyright Office to develop an infrastructure for
linking digital works. The Office proved the concept of CORDS
electronic copyright registration and deposit with its initial test in
1996 using computer science technical reports from Carnegie Mellon
University. Additional tests with other partners are planned for 1997.
CORDS will allow applicants to submit copyright applications and
deposit their digitized works electronically. Claimants will prepare
their applications, attach deposit materials in machine-readable
format, ``sign'' their submissions using public key/private key
encryption technology, and transmit applications and deposits to the
Copyright Office over the Internet using Privacy Enhanced Mail.
The CORDS system will interface with three existing Copyright
Office automated systems--COINS (the Copyright Office in-process
tracking system), COPICS (Copyright Office Publication and Interactive
Cataloging System) and CIS (the Copyright Imaging System, which
produces copyright registration certificates). The new CORDS system
automatically enters information into COINS (the tracking system), the
remitter's deposit account is debited for the filing fee, and an in-
process tracking record (giving the status of the application, fee, and
deposit) is created, all electronically.
In addition, using CORDS, the Copyright Office staff will complete
examination and cataloging of the digital applications and works and
enter data into COPICS (the cataloging system). Registration
certificates will be issued through the Copyright Imaging System (CIS).
The Office's digital repository will hold these digital copyright
deposits in a secure and verifiable manner.
In future test phases over the next few years, the Copyright Office
will work with several other small groups of representative copyright
owners. Subsequent phases of CORDS testing will receive and process
selected applications and deposits in other formats of copyrighted
works starting with a limited number of published textual works, some
with graphics, then images, sound recordings, video, and other formats.
These tests and modification phases will continue while the Internet
environment itself is maturing.
3. The Current Process for Certificate
From 1978 to 1993, internal processing of applications and creation
of certificates was done by hand. After the Examining Division cleared
the claim for registration, a registration number was stamped on the
application. A certificate was then created by photocopying the
numbered application onto ``certificate paper,'' paper printed with the
Copyright Office seal and the signature of the Register of Copyrights
appearing in the upper left corner. The certificate was then mailed to
the applicant. See Copyright Office Announcement, Changes in
Registration Procedures Effective January 1, 1978, ML-171. (Nov. 1977).
Since 1993, portions of the numbering and certification process
have been automated. The numbering clerk enters the In-Process Number
by wand; the system generates barcoded registration number labels that
are placed on the application and deposit. The clerk then scans the
numbered application into the Copyright Imaging System (CIS), which
records a digital image of the application. CIS interfaces with COINS
to verify the availability of the fee and record the registration
number assigned to the claim. The system transmits the image to a
printer, which reproduces the image onto the ``certificate paper.'' The
certificate is mailed to the applicant.
4. CORDS Certificates
The Office originally envisioned that certificates issued under
CORDS would be identical to certificates issued through the paper-based
system. In developing the system, however, programming problems in
designing certificates that would accommodate the variations in classes
of works made this goal costly to achieve. Therefore the Office
designed a certificate which is identical to the current certificate in
certain standard fields but which allows flexibility in other fields of
information to accommodate the variations in
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classes of works and information provided by the applicant.
The certificates produced from CORDS registration records would
therefore be different in appearance than those produced from paper
applications. All information provided by the applicant will be
included in the certificate, in accordance with section 410(a) of the
copyright law. However, where an item of non-essential information,
such as a ``previous or alternative title,'' is not provided by the
applicant, the heading for that information would not appear. Headings
for essential information, such as the ``publication date,'' would
appear even if left blank by the applicant. The information would be
presented in the same sequence in the CORDS certificates, but the
individual fields would vary in length to optimize space and to keep
all of the information of one type together (e.g., all titles listed
together, all authors listed together, all claimants listed together).
This system would also alleviate the need for continuation pages.
Two sample CORDS TX certificates reproduced as Appendix A and
Appendix B illustrate the principles described above. Appendix A
represents a simple claim and Appendix B a complicated claim that would
have required a continuation sheet if filed using a printed form.
Certain standard items, e.g., location of the seal, registration and
effective date, and certificate address would appear in the same areas
as they do on the printed forms.
5. Scope of Public Comments
The Copyright Office is interested in receiving public comments on
domestic or international difficulties, if any, in the Office's plan
for issuing such certificates of registration under CORDS.
Appendix
Dated: March 18, 1997.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
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[FR Doc. 97-7210 Filed 3-20-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-C
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