203.3—Organization.

(a) In general. The Office of the Register exercises overall direction of the work of the Copyright Office, including work in conjunction with copyright legislation, litigation and promulgation of copyright regulations. The Office of the Register of Copyrights includes the legal, administrative, and automation staff.

(b) The Copyright Office Chief of Operations has oversight of the operating divisions of the Copyright Office. The operating divisions are:

(1) The Receipt, Analysis and Control Division, which receives incoming materials, dispatches outgoing materials and establishes control over fiscal accounts.

(2) The Registration Program which examines all applications and material presented to the Copyright Office for registration of original and renewal copyright claims, and which determines whether the material deposited constitutes copyrightable subject matter and whether the other legal and formal requirements of title 17 have been met.

(3) The Registration Program, which prepares the bibliographic description of all copyrighted works registered in the Copyright Office, including the recording of legal facts of copyright pertaining to each work, in an on-line database in which copyright records can be searched; and which also examines and catalogs in an on-line database documents submitted for recordation.

(4) The Information and Records Division, which provides a national copyright information service through the Copyright Information Section, educates the public on the copyright law, issues and distributes information materials, responds to reference requests regarding copyright matters, prepares search reports based upon copyright records, certifies copies of legal documents concerned with copyright, and maintains liaison with the United States Customs Service, the Department of the Treasury, and the United States Postal Service on certain matters. The Information and Records Division also develops, services, stores, and preserves the official records and catalogs of the Copyright Office, including applications for registration, historical records, and materials deposited for copyright registration that are not selected by the Library of Congress for addition to its collections.

(5) The Licensing Division, which implements the sections of the Copyright Act dealing with secondary transmissions of radio and television programs, compulsory licenses for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works in connection with noncommercial broadcasting. The Licensing Division is in charge of collecting the statutory royalties and distributing these royalties based on either a voluntary agreement among the interested parties or a determination of the Copyright Royalty Board.

(c) The Copyright General Counsel is a principal legal officer of the Office. The General Counsel has overall supervisory responsibility for the legal staff and primary responsibility for providing liaison on legal matters between the Office and the Congress, the Department of Justice and other agencies of Government, the courts, the legal community, and a wide range of interests affected by the copyright law. The Copyright General Counsel has responsibility for overseeing all functions related to the administration of the compulsory licenses including oversight of the Copyright Royalty Board.

(d) The Associate Register of Copyrights for International Affairs and Policy is a principal legal adviser to the Register with primary responsibility for the international aspects of copyright protection, as well as legislative and policy matters.

(e) The Office has no field organization.

(f) The Office is located in The James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress, 1st and Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC. 20559-6000. The Public Information Office is located in Room LM-401. Its hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday except legal holidays. The phone number of the Public Information Office is (202) 707-3000. Informational material regarding the copyright law, the registration process, fees, and related information about the Copyright Office and its functions may be obtained free of charge from the Public Information Office upon request.

(g) All Copyright Office forms may be obtained free of charge from the Public Information Office or by calling the Copyright Office Hotline anytime day or night at (202) 707-9100.

(h) The Copyright Office maintains an “electronic reading room” by making available certain documents and records on its World Wide Web page and by providing access to documents that affect the public in electronic format pursuant to 5 USC 552(a)(2). Copyright Office records in machine-readable form cataloged from January 1, 1978, to the present, including registration information and recorded documents, are available on the Internet. Frequently requested Copyright Office circulars, announcements, and recently proposed as well as final regulations are available on-line. The address for the Copyright Office's home page is: http://www.loc.gov/copyright; information may also be accessed by connecting to the Library of Congress' home page on the World Wide Web. The address is: http://www.loc.gov. Other Copyright Office documents may be provided on disk when so requested.

Code of Federal Regulations

[60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995, as amended at 62 FR 55742, Oct. 28, 1997; 64 FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 66 FR 34373, June 28, 2001; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008; 76 FR 27898, May 13, 2011]

CFR

203.3—Organization.

Code of Federal Regulations