In my daily trawling of the Federal Register’s Table of Contents for matters related to space law, I came across the Copyright Office’s request for comment on mandatory deposits of electronic books. Here’s the summary:
Section 407 of the Copyright Act requires the mandatory deposit with the Copyright Office (‘‘Office’’) of all works published in the United States, within three months of publication, for use by the Library of Congress (‘‘Library’’). The Office is allowed to exclude certain classes of works from this requirement. In a 2010 interim rule, the Office codified its longstanding practice of excluding from the mandatory deposit requirements all electronic works that are not otherwise available in a physical format (i.e.,‘‘electronic works published in the United States and available only online.’’). The 2010 interim rule created one exception to this general rule for electronic-only serials, which are subject to mandatory deposit, if they are published in the United States and if they are affirmatively demanded by the Office. On May 17, 2016, the Office published a Notice of Inquiry seeking public comment on potential regulatory changes that would make the interim rule final and would make electronic-only books and sound recordings subject to mandatory deposit requirements by way of the same demand process. Based on the responses to the NOI and input from the Library, the Office proposes revising its regulations to make the interim rule final, and to make electronic-only books published in the United States subject to the mandatory deposit requirements if they are affirmatively demanded by the Office. The proposed rule does not address mandatory deposit of electronic-only sound recordings.
Comments due: Written comments must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 31, 2018. Click on the link to read the whole thing and for more detailed instructions on filing comments.
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I’m glad you found this, Laura, and posted about it. It seems quite important for indies especially.
I wonder what “affirmatively demanded” means. To my uninstructed eye, it seems to mean that unless the copyright office demands an electronic copy be deposited, then the deposit requirement is waived.
Somehow, I doubt that is correct. I shall have to go delving to figure it out.
I’m not an IP lawyer, but I suspect the Copyright Office wouldn’t call it a “waiver.” Rather, I’d say you don’t have to give them a copy unless they ask. That’s my interpretation for what it’s worth.
It won’t truly make that much of a difference to me, I suppose. It is easy enough to upload the file at the end of the registration process. I wonder what the Library of Congress does with the file? My understanding is that the paperbacks that one is required to send (when there is a paperback edition in existence at the time of registration) mostly get tossed into a dumpster and hauled away to b disposed of. Seems like a waste! 🙁
Oh, that just makes me very sad. It’s wrong to throw away books.