US Copyright Office: Re-Registration Required For Claiming Liability Exemptions 15/11/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)The United States Copyright Office has issued a reminder to all online service providers and agents that they must renew their registration with the office by end of year in order to claim liability limitations from copyright infringing content. The Copyright Office notice is reprinted below: Important notice regarding DMCA agent registration required by December 31, 2017. The Copyright Office officially released an announcement October 31, 2016, about new regulations affecting all online service providers who seek liability limitations under 17 U.S.C. § 512 (i.e., the DMCA). The regulations, which are effective as of December 1, 2016, require that all service providers (even those who have previously designated agents) file new forms prior to December 31, 2017 to (re)name their copyright designated agents, who are to receive takedown notices from copyright owners related to allegedly infringing content. This (re)designation process must be completed through the Copyright Office’s new online registration system. Paper forms will no longer be accepted. Moreover, companies must renew their agent designations every three years. See below for official statement from the United States Copyright Office: The United States Copyright Office has completed development of a new electronic system to designate and search for agents to receive notifications of claimed infringement, as required under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Accordingly, the Office is publishing a final rule in the Federal Register tomorrow to implement that system, replacing an interim rule that the Office had adopted after the DMCA’s enactment. A prepublication version of the rule is available for public inspection here. The rule is effective on December 1, 2016, the date that the new online registration system and directory will be launched. In the meantime, users can begin to acquaint themselves with the new system by watching the video tutorials available here. Any service provider that has previously designated an agent with the Office will have until December 31, 2017, to submit a new designation electronically through the new online registration system. View complete final ruling here. This is an extremely important ruling as all websites must designate agents with the Copyright Office pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(2) in order to properly obtain safe harbor protections to avoid liability for infringing material posted by users and other common online activities. If you have specific questions or concerns, please contact us. Interim Rule on Document Recordation Separately, the Copyright Office has published a Federal Register notice on an interim rule for recording transfers of copyright ownership, termination notices, and other documents related to copyright. The aim is to move to a fully online system from a paper one. The Office announcement of 13 November is reprinted below: Today, the U.S. Copyright Office published an interim rule amending its regulations concerning the recordation of transfers of copyright ownership, notices of termination, and other documents pertaining to copyright. On May 18, 2017, the Office issued an NPRM proposing amendments to the Office’s recordation regulations designed to update them in anticipation of development of a new electronic recordation system. The NPRM also noted that at least some aspects of the proposal could be implemented prior to the rollout of the new system. This interim rule adopts a number of the proposed improvements to the extent practicable under the current paper-based recordation system. The Office intends to replace the interim rule with a final rule once the new online system is publicly released. While the rule makes many changes and clarifications, the general mechanics of recordation remain essentially the same. One of the more notable amendments is that electronically signed documents can now be recorded, expanding the universe of recordable documents. Additionally, a document cover sheet containing various certifications and indexing information is now required, which should aid remitters in confirming their submissions are complete and compliant, and should also benefit the Office by making the examination process more efficient. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related "US Copyright Office: Re-Registration Required For Claiming Liability Exemptions" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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