IIA

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 897

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 20 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Received

NOVEMBER 23, 1993

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

AN ACT

To amend title 17, United States Code, to modify certain

registration requirements, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Copyright Reform Act

5 of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEPOSIT OF COPIES OR PHONORECORDS FOR LI7 BRARY OF CONGRESS.

8 Section 407 of title 17, United States Code, is

9 amended as follows:
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1 (1) Subsection (a) is amended by striking ‘‘(a)’’

2 and all that follows through ‘‘publication—’’ and in3 serting the following:

4 ‘‘(a) REQUIRED DEPOSITS.—Except as provided in

5 subsection (c), the owner of copyright in a work or of the

6 exclusive right of publication of a work in the United

7 States shall deposit, after the earliest date of such

8 publication—’’.

9 (2) Subsection (b) is amended—

10 (A) by inserting ‘‘DEPOSIT IN COPYRIGHT

11 OFFICE.—’’ after ‘‘(b)’’; and

12 (B) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A

13 deposit made under this section may be used to

14 satisfy the deposit requirements of section

15 408.’’.

16 (3) Subsection (c) is amended—

17 (A) by inserting ‘‘REGULATIONS.—’’ after

18 ‘‘(c)’’; and

19 (B) by striking ‘‘Register of Copyrights’’

20 and inserting ‘‘Librarian of Congress’’.

21 (4) Subsection (d) is amended—

22 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2),

23 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), re24 spectively;
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘(d) At any time after pub2 lication of a work as provided by subsection

3 (a)’’ and inserting the following:

4 ‘‘(d) PROCEDURES.—(1) During November of each

5 year, the Librarian of Congress shall publish in the Fed6 eral Register a statement of the categories of works of

7 which the Library of Congress wishes to acquire copies

8 or phonorecords under this section during the next cal9 endar year. The Librarian shall review such statement an10 nually in light of the changes in the Library’s policies and

11 procedures, changes in technology, and changes in pat12 terns of publication. The statement shall also describe—

13 ‘‘(A) the types of works of which only one copy

14 or phonorecord need be deposited;

15 ‘‘(B) the types of works for which the deposit

16 requirements may be fulfilled by placing the Library

17 of Congress on a subscription list; and

18 ‘‘(C) the categories of works which are exempt

19 under subsection (c) from the deposit requirements.

20 ‘‘(2) At any time after publication in the United

21 States of a work or body of works’’;

22 (C) by striking ‘‘Register of Copyrights’’

23 and inserting ‘‘Librarian of Congress’’;
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1 (D) by inserting after the first sentence

2 the following: ‘‘Such demand shall specify a

3 date for compliance with the demand.’’;

4 (E) by inserting ‘‘in a civil action’’ after

5 ‘‘are liable’’;

6 (F) in subparagraph (B) (as redesignated

7 by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph) by

8 striking ‘‘cost of’’ and inserting ‘‘cost to’’;

9 (G) in subparagraph (C) (as redesignated

10 by subparagraph (A) of this paragraph) by

11 striking ‘‘clauses (1) and (2)’’ and inserting

12 ‘‘subparagraphs (A) and (B)’’; and

13 (H) by adding after subparagraph (C) (as

14 so redesignated) the following:

15 ‘‘In addition to the penalties set forth in subparagraphs

16 (A), (B), and (C), the person against whom an action is

17 brought under this paragraph shall be liable in such action

18 for all costs of the United States in pursuing the demand,

19 including an amount equivalent to a reasonable attorney’s

20 fee.’’.

21 (5) Subsection (e) is amended—

22 (A) by inserting ‘‘TRANSMISSION PRO23 GRAMS.—’’ after ‘‘(e)’’;

24 (B) by striking ‘‘Register of Copyrights

25 shall, after consulting with the Librarian of
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1 Congress and other interested organizations

2 and officials,’’ and inserting ‘‘Librarian of Con3 gress shall, after consulting with interested or4 ganizations and officials,’’; and

5 (C) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘Register

6 of Copyrights’’ and inserting ‘‘Librarian of

7 Congress’’.

8 (6) Section 407 of title 17, United States Code,

9 is further amended by adding at the end the follow10 ing:

11 ‘‘(f) OBLIGATION TO MAKE DEPOSITS.—Imme12 diately upon the publication in the United States of any

13 work in which copyright subsists under this title, it shall

14 be the obligation of the persons identified in subsection

15 (a) with respect to that work, subject to the requirements

16 and exceptions specified in this section, to deposit, for the

17 use or disposition of the Library of Congress, the copies

18 or phonorecords specified in such subsection. The obliga19 tion to make such deposit arises without any prior notifi20 cation or demand for compliance with subsection (a).

21 ‘‘(g) RECORDS OF DEPOSITS.—The Librarian of

22 Congress shall establish and maintain public records of

23 the receipt of copies and phonorecords deposited under

24 this section.
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1 ‘‘(h) DATABASE OF DEPOSIT RECORDS.—The Li2 brarian of Congress shall establish and maintain an elec3 tronic database containing its records of all deposits made

4 under this section on and after October 1, 1995, and shall

5 make such database available to the public through one

6 or more international information networks.

7 ‘‘(i) DELEGATION AUTHORITY.—The Librarian of

8 Congress may delegate to the Register of Copyrights or

9 other officer or employee of the Library of Congress any

10 of the Librarian’s responsibilities under this section.’’.

11 SEC. 3. COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION IN GENERAL.

12 Section 408 of title 17, United States Code, is

13 amended—

14 (1) in subsection (c)—

15 (A) in paragraph (1) by adding at the end

16 the following: ‘‘The Register is also authorized

17 to specify by regulation classes of material in

18 which registration may be made without deposit

19 of any copy or phonorecord, in cases in which

20 the Register determines that the purposes of

21 examination, registration, and deposit can be

22 adequately served by deposit of descriptive ma23 terial only, or by a written obligation to deposit

24 copies or phonorecords at a later date.’’; and
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1 (B) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘periodi2 cals, including newspapers’’ and all that follows

3 through the end of subparagraph (B) and in4 serting ‘‘collective works, including periodicals,

5 published within a 5-year period, on the basis

6 of a single deposit and application and upon

7 payment of any special registration fee imposed

8 under section 708(a)(10), if the application

9 identifies each work separately, including the

10 collective work containing it and its date of first

11 publication.’’; and

12 (2) by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(f) COPYRIGHT OFFICE HEARINGS.—Not later than

14 1 year after the effective date of this subsection, and at

15 1-year intervals thereafter, the Register of Copyrights

16 shall hold public hearings to consider proposals to amend

17 the regulations and practices of the Copyright Office with

18 respect to deposit of works in order to eliminate deposits

19 that are unnecessary for copyright examination or the col20 lections of the Library of Congress, and in order to sim21 plify the registration procedures.’’.

22 SEC. 4. APPLICATION FOR COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION.

23 (a) APPLICATIONS.—Section 409 of title 17, United

24 States Code, is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘The application’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘(a) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—The applica3 tion’’;

4 (2) in paragraph (5) by inserting before the

5 semicolon the following: ‘‘, and if the document by

6 which ownership was obtained has been recorded in

7 the Copyright Office, the volume and page number

8 of such recordation’’;

9 (3) by striking paragraphs (9) and (10) and in10 serting the following:

11 ‘‘(9) in the case of a compilation or derivative

12 work, an identification of any preexisting work or

13 works that it is substantially based on or substan14 tially incorporates, and a brief, general statement of

15 the additional material covered by the copyright

16 claim being registered;

17 ‘‘(10) at the option of the applicant, names, ad18 dresses, and telephone numbers of persons or orga19 nizations that potential users of the work should

20 contact concerning permissions or licenses to use the

21 work, and any information with respect to the terms

22 of such permissions or licenses; and’’; and

23 (4) by adding at the end the following:

24 ‘‘(b) SHORT-FORM APPLICATION.—
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1 ‘‘(1) USE OF SHORT-FORM.—The Register of

2 Copyrights shall prescribe a short-form application

3 which may be used whenever—

4 ‘‘(A) the work is by a living author;

5 ‘‘(B) the claimant is the author;

6 ‘‘(C) the work is not anonymous, pseudon7 ymous, or made for hire; and

8 ‘‘(D) the work as a whole, or substantial

9 portions of it, have not been previously pub10 lished or registered.

11 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF SHORT-FORM.—The short12 form application shall include—

13 ‘‘(A) the name and address of the author;

14 ‘‘(B) the title of the work;

15 ‘‘(C) the nationality or domicile of the au16 thor;

17 ‘‘(D) the year in which creation of the

18 work was completed;

19 ‘‘(E) if the work has been published, the

20 date and nation of its first publication;

21 ‘‘(F) any other information regarded by

22 the Register of Copyrights as bearing upon the

23 preparation or identification of the work or the

24 existence, ownership, or duration of the copy25 right; and
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1 ‘‘(G) at the option of the applicant, names,

2 addresses, and telephone numbers of persons or

3 organizations that potential users of the work

4 should contact concerning permissions or li5 censes to use the work, and any information

6 with respect to the terms of such permissions or

7 licenses.’’.

8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

9 this section take effect 6 months after the date of the en10 actment of this Act.

11 SEC. 5. REGISTRATION OF CLAIM AND ISSUANCE OF CER12 TIFICATE.

13 (a) DETERMINATION OF REGISTRATION.—Section

14 410 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by strik15 ing subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the following:

16 ‘‘(a) DETERMINATION OF REGISTER.—If, after ex17 amination, the Register of Copyrights determines, in ac18 cordance with the provisions of this title, that there is no

19 reasonable possibility that a court would hold the work

20 for which a deposit is made pursuant to section 408(c)

21 to be copyrightable subject matter, or the Register deter22 mines that the claim is invalid for any other reason, the

23 Register shall refuse registration and notify the applicant

24 in writing of the reasons for such refusal. In all other

25 cases, the Register shall register the claim and issue to
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1 the applicant a certificate of registration under the seal

2 of the Copyright Office. A certificate of registration issued

3 under this section extends only to those component parts

4 of the work that both are the subject matter of copyright

5 and the copyright owner has the right to claim. The cer6 tificate shall contain the information set forth in the appli7 cation, together with the number and effective date of the

8 registration.

9 ‘‘(b) APPEALS PROCEDURE.—The Register of Copy10 rights shall establish, and publish in the Federal Register,

11 a formal procedure by which appeals may be taken from

12 refusals under subsection (a) to register claims to copy13 right. Such procedure shall include a final appeal to the

14 Register.’’.

15 (b) JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS.—Subsection (c) of sec16 tion 410 of title 17, United States Code, is amended—

17 (1) by inserting ‘‘EVIDENTIARY WEIGHT OF

18 CERTIFICATE.—’’ after ‘‘(c)’’; and

19 (2) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Any

20 error or omission made in good faith or upon rea21 sonable reliance on counsel shall not affect the valid22 ity of the registration. In no case shall an incorrect

23 statement made in an application for copyright reg24 istration invalidate the copyright.’’.
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1 (c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Subsection (d) of sec2 tion 410 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by

3 inserting ‘‘EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGISTRATION.—’’ after

4 ‘‘(d)’’.

5 SEC. 6. COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION PROVISIONS.

6 (a) REGISTRATION AND INFRINGEMENT ACTIONS.—

7 (1) Section 411 of title 17, United States Code, is amend8 ed—

9 (A) by amending the section caption to read as

10 follows:

11 ‘‘§ 411. Registration and infringement actions for cer12 tain works’’;

13 (B) by striking subsection (a); and

14 (C) in subsection (b)—

15 (i) by striking ‘‘(b)’’; and

16 (ii) by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and

17 inserting the following:

18 ‘‘(1) serves notice upon the infringer, not less

19 than 10 or more than 30 days before such fixation,

20 identifying the work and the specific time and source

21 of its first transmission; and

22 ‘‘(2) submits an application for registration of

23 the copyright claim in the work, in accordance with

24 this title, within 3 months after the first trans25 mission of the work.’’.
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1 (2) The item relating to section 411 in the table of

2 sections at the beginning of chapter 4 of title 17, United

3 States Code, is amended to read as follows:

‘‘411. Registration and infringement actions for certain works.’’.

4 (b) REGISTRATION AS PREREQUISITE TO CERTAIN

5 REMEDIES FOR INFRINGEMENT.—Section 412 of title 17,

6 United States Code, and the item relating to section 412

7 in the table of sections at the beginning of chapter 4 of

8 title 17, United States Code, are repealed.

9 SEC. 7. REMEDIES FOR INFRINGEMENT.

10 Section 504(c)(2) of title 17, United States Code, is

11 amended in the second sentence—

12 (1) by striking ‘‘court it’’ and inserting ‘‘court

13 in’’;

14 (2) by inserting ‘‘or eliminate’’ after ‘‘reduce’’;

15 and

16 (3) by striking ‘‘to a sum of not less than

17 $200’’.

18 SEC. 8. NOTIFICATION OF FILING AND DETERMINATION OF

19 ACTIONS.

20 Section 508 of title 17, United States Code, is

21 amended—

22 (1) in subsection (a)—

23 (A) in the first sentence by inserting ‘‘and

24 the party filing the action’’ after ‘‘United

25 States’’; and
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1 (B) in the second sentence by inserting

2 ‘‘and the party filing the action’’ after ‘‘clerk’’;

3 and

4 (2) in subsection (b) by inserting ‘‘and the

5 party filing the action’’ after ‘‘clerk of the court’’.

6 SEC. 9. STUDY ON MANDATORY DEPOSIT.

7 (a) SUBJECT MATTER OF STUDY.—Upon the enact8 ment of this Act, the Librarian of Congress shall conduct

9 a study of the mandatory deposit provisions of section 407

10 of title 17, United States Code. Such study shall place

11 particular emphasis on the implementation of section

12 407(e) of such title with respect to the deposit of trans13 mission programs, as well as possible alternative methods

14 of obtaining deposits if the mandatory deposit require15 ments of such section 407 are expanded to authorize the

16 collection, archival preservation, and use by the Library

17 of Congress of other publicly transmitted works, including

18 unpublished works such as computer programs and online

19 databases.

20 (b) CONDUCT OF STUDY.—The study under sub21 section (a) shall be conducted by the Register of Copy22 right, in consultation with any affected interests, and may

23 include the voluntary establishment, in collaboration with

24 representatives of such interests, of practical tests and

25 pilot projects.
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1 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 18

2 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the

3 Librarian shall submit to the Congress a report on the

4 results of the study conducted under this section, together

5 with recommendations the Librarian has on—

6 (1) safeguarding the interests of copyright own7 ers whose works are subject to the mandatory de8 posit provisions referred to in subsection (a);

9 (2) fulfilling the present and future needs of

10 the Library of Congress with respect to archival and

11 other collections development; and

12 (3) any legislation that may be necessary.

13 SEC. 10. STUDIES OF EFFECTS OF REGISTRATION AND DE14 POSIT PROVISIONS.

15 Upon the enactment of this Act, the Librarian of

16 Congress, after consultation with the Register of Copy17 rights and any affected interests, shall commence a study

18 of the extent to which changes in the registration and de19 posit provisions of title 17, United States Code, that are

20 made by this Act have affected the acquisitions of the Li21 brary of Congress and the operations of the copyright reg22 istration system, and any recommendations the Librarian

23 may have with respect to such effects. Not later than 3

24 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Li25 brarian shall submit to the Congress a report on such
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1 study. The Librarian may conduct further studies de2 scribed in the first sentence, and report to the Congress

3 on such studies.

4 SEC. 11. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 101 of title 17, United

6 States Code, is amended by striking the definition of the

7 ‘‘country of origin’’ of a Berne Convention work.

8 (b) INFRINGEMENT OF COPYRIGHT.—Section 501(b)

9 of title 17, United States Code, is amended in the first

10 sentence by striking ‘‘, subject to the requirements of sec11 tion 411,’’.

12 (c) REMEDIES FOR INFRINGEMENT.—Section 504(a)

13 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by striking

14 ‘‘Except as otherwise provided by this title, an’’ and in15 serting ‘‘An’’.

16 SEC. 12. ADDITIONAL TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

17 (a) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 17, UNITED STATES

18 CODE.—Title 17, United States Code, is amended as fol19 lows:

20 (1) The definition of ‘‘publicly’’ contained in

21 section 101 is amended—

22 (A) by striking ‘‘clause’’ and inserting

23 ‘‘paragraph’’; and

24 (B) by striking ‘‘processs’’ and inserting

25 ‘‘process’’.
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1 (2) The definition of ‘‘registration’’ contained in

2 section 101 is amended by striking ‘‘412,’’.

3 (3) Section 108(e) is amended in the matter

4 preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘pair’’ and in5 serting ‘‘fair’’.

6 (4) Section 109(b)(2)(B) is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘Copyright’’ and inserting ‘‘Copyrights’’.

8 (5) Section 304(c) is amended in the matter

9 preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘the subsection

10 (a)(1)(C) and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)(C)’’.

11 (6) Section 405(b) is amended by striking ‘‘con12 dition or’’ and inserting ‘‘condition for’’.

13 (7) The item relating to section 504 in the table

14 of sections at the beginning of chapter 5 is amended

15 by striking ‘‘Damage’’ and inserting ‘‘Damages’’.

16 (8) Section 501(a) is amended by striking ‘‘sec17 tions 106 through 118’’ and inserting ‘‘section 106’’.

18 (9) Section 509(b) is amended by striking

19 ‘‘merchandise; and baggage’’ and inserting ‘‘mer20 chandise, and baggage’’.

21 (10) Section 601 of title 17, United States

22 Code, is amended—

23 (A) in subsection (a) by striking

24 ‘‘nondramtic’’ and inserting ‘‘nondramatic’’;

25 and
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1 (B) in subsection (b)(1) by striking

2 ‘‘subsustantial’’ and inserting ‘‘substantial’’.

3 (11) Section 801(b)(4) of title 17, United

4 States Code, is amended by adding a period after

5 ‘‘chapter 10’’.

6 (12) The item relating to section 903 in the

7 table of sections at the beginning of chapter 9 is

8 amended to read as follows:

‘‘903. Ownership, transfer, licensing, and recordation.’’.

9 (13) Section 909(b)(1) is amended—

10 (A) by striking ‘‘force’’ and inserting

11 ‘‘work’’; and

12 (B) by striking ‘‘sumbol’’ and inserting

13 ‘‘symbol’’.

14 (14) Section 910(a) is amended in the second

15 sentence by striking ‘‘as used’’ and inserting ‘‘As

16 used’’.

17 (15) Section 1006(b)(1) is amended by striking

18 ‘‘Federation Television’’ and inserting ‘‘Federation

19 of Television’’.

20 (16) Section 1007 is amended—

21 (A) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ‘‘the

22 calendar year in which this chapter takes ef23 fect’’ and inserting ‘‘calendar year 1992’’; and
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1 (B) in subsection (b) by striking ‘‘the year

2 in which this section takes effect’’ and inserting

3 ‘‘1992’’.

4 (17) The table of chapters at the beginning of

5 title 17, United States Code, is amended—

6 (A) by amending the item relating to chap7 ter 6 to read as follows:

‘‘6. Manufacturing Requirements and Importation ............. 601’’;

8 (B) by amending the item relating to chap9 ter 9 to read as follows:

‘‘9. Protection of Semiconductor Chip Products ................... 901’’;

10 and

11 (C) by adding at the end the following:

‘‘10. Digital Audio Recording Devices and Media ................. 1001’’.

12 (b) OTHER PROVISIONS OF LAW.—(1) Section

13 2319(b)(1) of title 18, United States Code, is amended

14 by striking ‘‘at last’’ and inserting ‘‘at least’’.

15 (2) Section 1(a)(1) of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to

16 amend chapter 9 of title 17, United States Code, regard17 ing protection extended to semiconductor chip products of

18 foreign entities’’, approved November 9, 1987 (17 U.S.C.

19 914 note), is amended by striking ‘‘orginating’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘originating’’.

21 (3) Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the Audio Home Recording

22 Act of 1992 is amended by striking ‘‘adding the following
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1 new paragraph at the end’’ and inserting ‘‘inserting after

2 paragraph (3) the following new paragraph’’.

3 SEC. 13. EFFECTIVE DATE.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in section

5 4(b), and subject to subsection (b) of this section, this Act

6 and the amendments made by this Act take effect on the

7 date of the enactment of this Act.

8 (b) PENDING ACTIONS.—The amendments and re9 peals made by section 6 shall not affect any action brought

10 under title 17, United States Code, before the date of the

11 enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives November 20,

1993.

Attest: DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

Clerk.

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