2018-07484: Mandatory Deposit of Electronic-Only Books

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.

The agency’s own summary, as published.

What this changes

Amends 1 part of the Code of Federal Regulations — the standing rules this notice rewrites.

• 37 CFR 202 Preregistration and Registration of Claims to Copyright