Maryland Intellectual Property Lawyer & Attorney : Brian Wm. Higgins : Serving Baltimore, Columbia, Frederick

• Copyright Office Publishes Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Amend Current Regulations Governing Group Registrations

In its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Copyright Office is proposing to amend 37 CFR Part 202, the current regulations governing group registrations, to allow the grouping of individual works on one registration application. Under the proposal, applicants who take advantage of the group registration option would be required to file their claims electronically. Comments are due on or before May 30, 2008. The stated purpose of the amended regulations is to increase online registrations (link to Copyright Office).

• RIAA Lawsuit Victory Against Individual Getting a Second Look

William Patry at The Patry Copyright Blog posted an interesting article recently concerning one of the most watched music industry lawsuits (see "Breaking Development in Thomas Making Available Case"). As Patry notes, the case of Capitol v. Thomas in Minnesota "has been watched worldwide," due primarily to the large amount of the jury verdict awarded against Ms. Thomas (who, by the way, has moved for a new trial on the basis that the amount awarded was unconstitutionally excessive). As discussed by Patry and reported by the Recording Industry v. The People Blog, attention given the jury award has now shifted after the District Court "adjourned the briefing schedules for the determination of whether it had committed a 'manifest error of law' when it accepted the RIAA's proposed jury instruction that merely 'making available' [a music file] constituted an infringement of the distribution right and overlooked the controlling Eighth Circuit case, National Car Rental System v. Computer Associates, which had held that there can be no infringement of the 17 USC 106(3) 'distribution right' without actual dissemination of copies or phonorecords."

For other RIAA posts on this website, see "Recording Industry Follows Through on Threats to Sue" and "Downloading Music Benefits Both Consumers and Artists, Study Finds".

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     According to a Copyright Office statement, under the 1909 copyright law, works copyrighted in the United States before January 1, 1978, were subject to a renewal system in which the term of copyright was divided into two consecutive 28-year terms. To secure the renewal protection, the claimant had to file a renewal registration within strict time limits. However, since January 1, 2006, all applications for renewal have necessarily related to works which, due to automatic renewal, are already in their renewal terms, making impossible any renewal in the 28th year.

     Consequently, the Copyright Office issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its regulations to account for these facts and to clarify certain renewal requirements (72 FR 16306). The Copyright Office received no opposition to its proposal, so it issued a final rule incorporating the proposed revisions to 37 CFR 202.17.

Comments:

• Any applications for registration of claims to the renewal term must be filed using the newly revised forms. The previously used forms are obsolete, and the new forms must be used to file renewal claims (see Form RE, Form RE/CON, and Form RE/ADDENDUM). 
  
  
• New rule: 72 FR 61801

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