I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1695 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide additional responsibilities 

for the Register of Copyrights, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 23, 2017 

Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. BASS, Mr. BIGGS, Mrs. 

BLACKBURN, Mr. BUCK, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. DESANTIS, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. 

FARENTHOLD, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

GOWDY, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. JOHNSON of 

Louisiana, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. LABRADOR, Mr. TED

LIEU of California, Mr. MARINO, Mr. NADLER, Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. 

RATCLIFFE, Mrs. ROBY, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, and Mr. SMITH of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide additional 

responsibilities for the Register of Copyrights, 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 ‘‘Register of Copyrights 

5 Selection and Accountability Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS. 

2 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 701 of title 17, United 

3 States Code, is amended— 

4 (1) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘(a) All administrative’’ 

6 and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(a) REGISTER AND DIRECTOR.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All administrative’’; 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘director’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘Director’’; 

11 (C) by inserting after the first sentence the 

12 following: ‘‘The Register of Copyrights shall be 

13 a citizen of the United States with a profes14 sional background and experience in copyright 

15 law and shall be appointed by the President, by 

16 and with the advice and consent of the Sen17 ate.’’; and 

18 (D) in the last sentence, by striking ‘‘shall 

19 be appointed’’ and all that follows through ‘‘and 

20 shall act’’ and inserting ‘‘shall act’’; 

21 (2) in subsection (b), by redesignating para22 graphs (1) through (5) as subparagraphs (A) 

23 through (E), respectively, and adjusting the margins 

24 accordingly; 

25 (3) by redesignating subsection (b) as para26 graph (2), and adjusting the margins accordingly; 


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1 (4) in paragraph (2), as so redesignated, by in2 serting ‘‘DUTIES.—’’ before ‘‘In addition’’; 

3 (5) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(3) OATH.—The Register of Copyrights shall, 

6 before taking office, take an oath to discharge faith7 fully the duties of the Copyright Office described in 

8 paragraph (2). 

9 ‘‘(4) REMOVAL.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Register of Copy11 rights may be removed from office by the Presi12 dent. 

13 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—The President shall 

14 provide notification to both Houses of Congress 

15 of a removal under subparagraph (A). 

16 ‘‘(5) TERM OF OFFICE.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara18 graph (B), the Register of Copyrights— 

19 ‘‘(i) shall be appointed for a term of 

20 10 years; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) may serve until a successor is ap22 pointed, confirmed, and taken the oath of 

23 office. 

24 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The Register of Copy25 rights may not continue to serve after the date 


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1 on which Congress adjourns sine die after the 

2 date on which the 10-year period described in 

3 subparagraph (A)(i) ends. 

4 ‘‘(C) REAPPOINTMENT.—An individual ap5 pointed to the position of Register of Copy6 rights, by and with the advice and consent of 

7 the Senate, may be reappointed to that position 

8 in accordance with the requirements of this sec9 tion.’’; 

10 (6) by redesignating subsections (c) through (f) 

11 as subsections (b) through (e), respectively; 

12 (7) in subsection (b), as so redesignated, by in13 serting ‘‘SEAL.—’’ before ‘‘The Register’’; 

14 (8) in subsection (c), as so redesignated, by in15 serting ‘‘ANNUAL REPORT.—’’ before ‘‘The Reg16 ister’’; 

17 (9) in subsection (d), as so redesignated, by in18 serting ‘‘APPLICABILITY OF TITLE 5.—’’ before 

19 ‘‘Except as provided’’; and 

20 (10) in subsection (e), as so redesignated, by 

21 inserting ‘‘COMPENSATION.—’’ before ‘‘The Reg22 ister’’. 

23 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by sub24 section (a) shall apply with respect to any vacancy for the 

25 Register of Copyrights after January 1, 2017. If a RegVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:16 Mar 28, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1695.IH H1695

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1 ister of Copyrights is appointed during the period begin2 ning on January 1, 2017, and ending on the day before 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act, that Register shall 

4 meet the requirements of the amendments made by this 

5 Act or shall be replaced in accordance with such amend6 ments. 

Æ 


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