Issue 320 -July 30, 2007

Improved Copyright Search System to Replace Current Search Systems in Mid August

In mid August, the Copyright Office will launch a powerful new records search system that accesses more than 20 million digital records of registrations and recorded documents from 1978 to the present. The new system allows searching by title, name, keyword, and registration or document number. Through a command keyword search, elements of any or all fields can be combined to search the records.

Users can also search by type of work, such as sound recordings, dramas, motion pictures, visual materials, or preregistrations. The search method combines three separate databases that previously permitted only limited searching. The search tool uses Voyager software, the same system used by the Library of Congress Online Catalog. (See tutorial on searching with the new system.)

Copyright Office Publishes Technical Corrections

The Copyright Office is making technical corrections to its interim regulation implementing an online copyright registration. The interim regulation amends regulations governing the procedures by which the public submits, and the Office processes, copyright registrations and recordations. The interim regulation was published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2007. (Read further information.)