A N N U A L R E P O R T OF T H E
L I B R A R I A N OF C O N G R E S S
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING
30 SEPTEMBER 1996
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
WASHINGTON
1997
C o r n G H T ISSUES
Sevclal bills were introduced during the 104th Congress providing for major
changes in the copyright statute. One iegidative measure, H.R 989, S. 483,
would have added twenty years to the basic copyright term. In testimonies
before the House and Senate Committees during fiscal 1995, the Register of
Copyrights proposed a limited exemption during this additional period for
certain nonprofit educational activities sponsored by the Library of Congress.
Similarly, library and educational groups proposed expanding this exemption
to allow noncommercial use of capyighted works duiing the last twenty years
of the copyright term. The Register was asked to faciliate an agreement
between copyright owners and libraries and educational institutions that
could be added to the bill.
The Copyright OfIice hosted a series of meetings between December 1995
and May 1996 to negotiate a limited exemption. The parties, however, could
not agree on specific language. As a result, the Register of Copyrights forwarded independent proposals to the House and SenateJudicky Committees. In the end, neither a House nor a Senate version of an extension
measwe was passed owing, in part, to linkage of the legislation to issues
regarding music licensing.
Major copyright legislation, affecting both copyright owners and users,was
introduced in both the House (H.R 2441) and Senate (S. 1284) with the
intention of adapting the copyright law to the digital, networked environment
The Register testified at ajoint Senate/House hearing on the legislation in
November 1995. The 104thCongress adjourned without enacting either bill.
At the request of the Copyright Office, H.R 1861was introduced by Representative Carlos Moorhead (RGalif.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts
and Intellectual Property, on June 15,1995; the proposed bii made a number
of technical corrections to the copyright law, and included a provision on the
Copyright m c e ' s authority to raise its fees. The bill, as passed by a voice vote
in the House on June 4,1996, would allow the o t k e to r a k its SKS up to tidl
cost recovery, subject to congressionalveto. However,the Senate failed to act
on the bill before adjournment
Several bills were introduced to restructure the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (FTO) as a government corporation. These bills would give the p m
posed U.S. Intellectual Property Organization a copyright policy function,
thereby eroding the Copyright Office's historical policy-making role. One
such bill, the Omnibus Patent Act of 1996 (S. 1961),would have removed the
Copyright Oace from the Libmy. The Librarian and the Register strongly
opposed this bill in statements to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary; the
Register testified to that effect on September 16,1996. During a SenateJudiciary Committee hearing held that day, Chairman Onin G. Hatch (R-Utah)
indicated that copyright provisions would not be included in any VTO legislation passed during the 104th Congress.At the end of the 104th Congress, no
restructuring legidation had been enacted.
The Copyright Office faced many challenges during fiscal 1996, including a
proposed Senate bill which would have transferred the Copyright Office out of
the Library of Congress (see also The Library and the Congress).
During the year, the Copyright Office undertook a major regulatory initiative
involving registration of photographs, successfully defended several law suits,
registered and recorded documents concerning old works restored under the
Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), and oversaw the efforts of the first
Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP), which handled more than $550
million in cable royalties covering the years 1-92.
The office delivered to Congress on March 1,1996 a major report regarding
the impact of the waiver of moral rights provisions in the =sual Artists Rights
Act of 1990 (VARA).
During fiscal 1996, the office received more than 620,000 claims representing
over 700,000 works. Some 550,000 claims were registered and more than
16,600 documents, containing over 100,000titles, were recorded. Receipts
from licensing fees totaled $187,455,015. The number of requests from the
public for information increased to 432,397.
On November 16,1995, the Copyright Acquisitions Division, which had been
transferred to Collections Senices in 1990, was returned to the Copyright
Office. This division administered section 407 of the law, the mandatory
deposit provisions, and monitored publishers's deposits and issued demands
as necessary.
COPYRIGHTOFFICEELECI'RONIC REGISTRATION,
RECORDATION,AND DEPOSIT SYSTEM (CORDS)
Development continued on the Copyright M c e Electronic Registration,
Recordation, and Deposit System (CORDS), which permits electronic
regisbation and deposit via the Internet.
The Corporation for National Research Initiativn (CNRI), working with the
Copyright Office and the Library's Information Technology Services (m),
ran a live test at Carnegie Mellon University on February 27,19!36. Four applk
cations and accompanying copyright works (unpublished computer science
technical reports) were successllly transmitted over the internet and processed by the Copyright Office: certificateswere issued to the copyright hold
em.Additional development work was done on CORDS prior to full
production delivery late in September.
Meanwhile, the office, through its own home page, continued to use the Internet and other new technologies to disseminate public information and to provide electronic access to the ofEce's registration and recordation databases.
Application forms, regulations and new procedures were all made available
through the Internet A new senice called faxandemand was introduced.
INTERNATIONALAcxwrrm
On October 1,1995, the newly appointed associate register for pdicy and
international affairsjoined the staff. During fiscal 1996,she wasjoined by two
policy planning advisers and an attorney adviser. As a result, the Copright
m c e substantially increased its support to the United Stares Trade Representative in negotiating and monitoring bilateral and multilateral intellectual
property agreements with other countries.
During the year, the Copyright Officesponsored two International Copyright
Institute programs. The first, for eight former Soviet republics, was cosponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization onjune 24-26. The
program was held in both Washington and Geneva. The second program was
the Commissioner of the National Copyright Administration of China and
top staff and included meetings in Washington and New York City on
27 and 28.
Copyright Office was active as a technical adviser to the Clinton Adminib
on in all of the preparatory work for the Workl Intellectual Property
tion (WIPO) Committee of Experts meetings. The meetings were
on three possible new treaties-one which would update the Beme Conon, one which would provide increased protection for performers and
ucers of sound recordings, and one which would provide intellectual
property protection to databases that do not meet the originality test required
by copyright law.
The office served as the primary source of U.S. expertise in the World Trade
Organization review in Geneva of the copyright laws of all developed countries, as well as on 301 (Omnibus Trade and CompetitivenessAct of 1988).
The office met with more than one hundred foreign visitors from developing
countries to provide a greater understanding of U.S. copyright law. Members
of governmental and private sector delegations included Chinese officials
responsible for copyright enforcement,judges from Thailand, government
officials from the Middle East, and publishers from Egypt and Hungary.
The office worked extensively with the U.S. Trade Representative's Office on
reviewing other countries' copyright laws for a special 301 review to determine
whether trade sanctions were appropriate. It continued to help foreign coum
mes revise their copyright laws to be compatible with the Agreement on Tladc.
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property and the Berne Convention.
An office attorney served on the U.S. delegation to the first meeting of the
Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA)Working Group. The group is
responsible for identifying and making recommendations on rra'de-related
measures involving intellectual property rights, and for making specific recornmendations on the FTAA.
With respect to implementation of the Uruguay Round AgreementsAct, the
office started receiving both notices of intent to enforce restored copyrights
and applications representing claims to copyright in such works.
DOMESTIC A-
Following the 125th anniversary of the Copyright Office's placement in the
Library of Congress, Senator Onin G. Hatch introduced legislation that would
move the Copyright Office out of the Library and into a new government corpolation called the U.S. Intellectual Property Organization. The bill, S. 1961,
introduced on July 16,1996, would have joined the Copyright Office with thr
Patent and Trademark Office in a corporation associated with the Departme111
of Commerce.
On September 18,1996, the Register testified against S. 1961 before the
Senate Committee on thejudiciary. The Librarian submitted a statement
expressing concern about the proposal's &ect on the Library of Congress,
especially the Library's ability to meet its acquisition ne+ through the regis
tration and deposit mechanisms of the present copyright law. He Mid: 'The
strength of the Libmy of Congress and its ability to serve the Congress and
the nation depend on the presence of the Copyright Offlce in this institution.
The effective administration and protection of our copyright laws depend on
the retention of both copyright practices and policy within the Copyright
OEice, within the Library of Congress, and within the legislative branch."
The Register cautioned against abandoning the existing structure in favor of
one that was untested and inherently flawed. She stated that her office was
unaware of any request for change from any segment of the copyright
community.
Moreover, the Register expressed concern about the potential impact on copy
right fees and the resulting damage that would be done to the existing system
of registration and deposit. A substantial fee increase would render the benefits of registration unavailable to many authors and proprietors, and would
result in a diminished public database of information about copyrighted
works. The bill would also deprive Congress of the nonpartisan advice of the
Copyright Office, whose views as part of the proposed new corporation would
be driven by executive branch politics andeconomic concerns.
The copyright provisions were removed !?om the bill, which died in the 104th
Congress.
On March 1,1996, the Register delivered a report to Congress based on the
results of a five-yearstudy to assess the impact of the waiver of moral rights
provisions in the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA). The act grants the
moral rights of attribution and integrity to authors of certain "works of visual
art" as defined in the Copyright Act The authors of these works of fine art and
exhibition photography have the right to claim or disclaim authorship and, in
Rome cases, to prevent distortion, mutilation, or modification of a work. The
office studied the effect of an artist's ability under VARA to waive his or her
moral rights in a signed, written agreement specifying the work and uses of
h e work to which the waiver applies.
The Register conduded that because VARA is in its infancy, because many
artists are still unaware of moral righrs, and because federal courts haw
offered little guidance on application of VARA to date, no legislative action is
currently warranted to modify VARA.
The Register also testified on several other important bills. On November 15,
1995, she supported the general approach of the NII legislation (the National
Information Protection Act of 1995, S.1284 and H.R 2441) before a joint
hearing of the Senate Committee on the judiciary and the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property. The major provisions dealt with clarifying the law concerning transmissions of works over global networks and
improving enforcement mechanisms by providing safeguards for the technology on which copyright owners will rely in disseminating works on the NII.
The bill would have provided protection for technological solutions to copying and for protecting the integrity of information provided to facilitate identi
fication and licensing of copyrighted works (that is, copyright management
information).Although supporting the concept of outlawing devices or services that defeat copyright protection systems and promoting the integrity of
copyright management information, the Register raised both drafting issues
and concerns about the scope of the conduct deemed unlawful.
The bills resulted in controvemy; much debate was centered on issues not
addressed in the legislation. These included the applicability of "fair use." and
specifically the legal status of what is known as "browsing," the status of the
*first sale" doctrine when copies of works are distributed by transmission, and
liability for on-line service providers and Internet access providers when
infringing works are msmitted over their services. However, the bills died in
the 104th Congress.
ill addressing
The Register also testified on November 9,1995, on a House b
important copyright uhousekeeping"issues. H.R 1861, introduced by Chairman Carlos Moorhead of the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual
Property, would have amended the Satellite Home =ewer Act of 1994 to correct a number of errors, clarified the royalty rates, restored the definitions of a
jukebox and ajukebox operator to section 116, and clarified that jukebox
negotiated licenses that require arbitration and rate proceedings under the
public broadcasting compulsoly licenses are CARP proceedings.
so addressed certain fee issues. It would have authorized the Copy
ce, under section 708(b), to raise its fees in my year to cumulate the
er Price Index from the last fee increase. The Register suggested that
office also be allowed to invest fees from "deposit accounts" (prepaid fees
t are not needed to meet current demands or services) in interesthearing
ties in the United States Treasury, and to use any interest earned.
g the November 9 hearing, a number of amendments were made to
cluding many proposed by the Copyright OEice.They included:
) allowing the office to raise all fees up to 111 cost recovery, with Congress
etaining veto power; (2) allowing the office to invest prepaid fees in interestbearing securities; (3) clarifying that distribution of phonorecords of music
distributed before 1978 did not put the music in the public domain--in other
words to restore the law to what it was before the decision of the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals in La CtenegvlMusic Co. v. ZZ Tops,44e4.M 813 (9th Cu.)
&. denied 64 U.S.L.W. 3262 (Oct 10,1995);(4) clarifying certain provisions
i f the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, including the date foreign copyrights
were restored and including US.copyright owners as reliance parties who are
entitled to take advantage of the derivativeworks provisions, and (5) amending section 117 to ensure that independent sexvice organizations do not inadvertently become liable for copyright infringement merely because they have
turned on a machine in order to service its hardware components. The bill
passed the House inJune and was referred to the.SenateJudiciary Committee
in July. However, no further action was taken during the 104th Congress.
37 Februay Copyright Office meiver first digital coWright application and deposit (from
CamegicMellon University) using Copyright Office Elecmnic Regismtion, Recordation, and
I k G t System (CORDS).
1 March Register of CopyrigQtsMarybeth Peters delivers a report to Congress on a five-year
study of impact of provisions of V i s d Artists Rights Act of 1990 that allows waiver of moral
rights by certain types of artists.
14. C O r Y R l G I f r R E C ~ T I O N S
(number of rqkwiorn by subject mttm, fhul1996)
Nondmatic literary works
Monographs and computer-rrlated works
139,248
47,967
74,455
2,509
6,472
-
222,684
47,967
Works of the performing a m ,including
musical works, dramatic works,
choreography and pantomimes,
and motion pichlres and filmships
46,892
86,738
Works of the visual arts. including hve
dimensional works of fine and graphic
art, sculpttual works, technical drawings
and models, photographs. cartographic
works, commercial prints and labels, and
works of the applied arts
65,109
26,531
R e n d
-
-
Mask work registrations
GRAND TOTAL, all registrations
-
-
-
-
Documents recorded
-
-
Serials
Serials (non-group)
Group daily newspapen
Group serials
TOTAL, literary work
Sound recordings
TOTAL
15. COPYRIGHT BUSINESS SUMMARY
(fm~ e i v dfiscal
,
1996)
Applications for registration
Fees for ma& works
Renewals
TOTAL
Fees for recordation of documents
Fees for certifications
Fees for searches
Fees for expedited semces
Fees for other semces
TOTAL
GRAND TOTAL
