Overview
The Copyright Office has announced a study to evaluate the “best edition” rules as they apply to both the mandatory deposit requirement under 17 U.S.C. § 407 and to applications to register copyrights under Section 408. By way of background, Section 407 requires copyright owners to submit two copies of the best edition of a work to the Library of Congress within three months of publication. Under Section 408, copyright applicants must submit deposit copies of their works along with their applications; often, the deposit must be the best edition available. The Library relies on both sections to build up its collections.
Notably, the legal obligation in Section 407 is separate from the option that copyright owners have to register their copyrights, but registering a work with the Copyright Office will satisfy the mandatory deposit requirement. While some categories of works (but notably not the requirement to submit deposits) are exempt from the best edition rule in the context of copyright applications, many are not—and the best edition rules have been criticised as onerous. Best editions are generally physical copies of works; among other issues, this can result in increased expense and processing time for applications.
The new study will explore whether additional categories of works should be exempt from the best edition requirement, how un-linking Sections 407 and 408 might impact applicants and the Library of Congress, whether the Copyright Office should expand the options for submitting electronic deposits, what applicants would prefer, security concerns relating to these issues, and whether “best edition” under the Copyright Act can be interpreted to include digital files.
