§201.2. Information given by the Copyright Office.

Information relative to the operations of the Copyright Office is supplied without charge. A search of the records, indexes, and deposits will be made for such information as they may contain relative to copyright claims upon application and payment of the statutory fee. The Copyright Office, however, does not undertake the making of comparisons of copyright deposits to determine similarity between works.

The Copyright Office does not furnish the names of copyright attorneys, publishers, agents, or other similar information to the public, except that it may provide a directory of pro bono representation available to participants in proceedings before the Copyright Claims Board.

In the administration of the Copyright Act in general, the Copyright Office interprets the Act. The Copyright Office, however, does not give specific legal advice on the rights of persons, whether in connection with particular uses of copyrighted works, cases of alleged foreign or domestic copyright infringement, contracts between authors and publishers, or other matters of a similar nature.

Inspection and copying of completed records and indexes relating to a registration or a recorded document, and inspection of copies or identifying material deposited in connection with a completed copyright registration may be undertaken in the Records Research and Certification Section. Since some of these materials are not stored on the immediate premises of the Copyright Office, it is advisable to consult the Records Research and Certification Section to determine the length of time necessary to produce the requested materials.

It is the general policy of the Copyright Office to deny direct public access to in-process files and to any work (or other) areas where they are kept. However, direct public use of computers intended to access the automated equivalent of limited portions of these files is permitted on a specified terminal in the Records Management Section, LM B-14, Monday through Friday, upon payment of applicable fees.

Information contained in Copyright Office in-process files may be obtained by anyone upon payment of applicable fees and request to the Office of Public Information and Education, in accordance with the following procedures:

In exceptional circumstances, the Register of Copyrights may allow inspection of pending applications and open correspondence files by someone other than the copyright claimant, upon submission of a written request which is deemed by the Register to show good cause for such access and establishes that the person making the request is one properly and directly concerned. The written request should be mailed to the address specified in § 201.1(c).

Direct public access will not be permitted to any financial or accounting records, including records maintained on Deposit Accounts.

The Register of Copyrights has issued an administrative manual known as the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. The Compendium explains many of the practices and procedures concerning the Office's mandate and statutory duties under title 17 of the United States Code. It is both a technical manual for the Copyright Office's staff, as well as a guidebook for authors, copyright licensees, practitioners, scholars, the courts, and members of the general public. The Third Edition and prior editions of the Compendium may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from the Office's website. They are also available for public inspection and copying in the Records Research and Certification Section.

Official correspondence, including preliminary applications, between copyright claimants or their agents and the Copyright Office, and directly relating to a completed registration, a recorded document, a rejected application for registration, or a document for which recordation was refused is available for public inspection. Included in the correspondence available for public inspection is that portion of the file directly relating to a completed registration, recorded document, a rejected application for registration, or a document for which recordation was refused which was once open to public inspection as a closed case, even if the case is subsequently reopened. Public inspection is available only for the correspondence contained in the file during the time it was closed because of one of the aforementioned actions. Correspondence relating to the reopening of the file and reconsideration of the case is considered part of an in-process file until final action is taken, and public inspection of that correspondence is governed by § 201.2(b). Requests for reproductions of the correspondence shall be made pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section.

Correspondence, application forms, and any accompanying material forming a part of a pending application are considered in-process files and access to them is governed by paragraph (b) of this section.

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, opinions, and similar material relating to internal matters of personnel and procedures, office administration, security matters, and internal consideration of policy and decisional matters including the work product of an attorney, are not open to public inspection.

The Copyright Office will not respond to any abusive or scurrilous correspondence or correspondence where the intent is unknown.

Requests for certified or uncertified reproductions of the copies, phonorecords, or identifying material deposited in connection with a copyright registration of published or unpublished works in the custody of the Copyright Office will be granted only when one of the following three conditions has been met:

When a request is made for a reproduction of a phonorecord, such as an audiotape or cassette, in which either a sound recording or the underlying musical, dramatic, or literary work is embodied, the Copyright Office will provide proximate reproduction. The Copyright Office reserves the right to substitute a monaural reproduction for a stereo, quadraphonic, or any other type of fixation of the work accepted for deposit.

In general, an author, claimant of record, or the authorized representative of the author or claimant of record may submit a request to remove certain categories of personally identifiable information (“PII”) described in paragraph (e)(2) of this section from the Copyright Office's online public catalog by following the procedure set forth in paragraph (e)(3) of this section. Where the requester provides verifiable, non-personally identifiable substitute information to replace the PII being removed, the Office will grant the request unless it determines that the need to maintain the original information in the public record substantially outweighs the safety, privacy, or other stated concern. If the requester does not provide verifiable, non-personally-identifiable substitute information, the Office will grant the request only if the safety, privacy, or other stated concern substantially outweighs the need for the information to remain in the public record. The Office will review requests by joint authors or claimants on a case-by-case basis.

Categories of personally identifiable information that may be removed from the online public catalog include names, home addresses, personal telephone and fax numbers, personal email addresses, and other information that is requested by the Office as part the copyright registration application except that:

Requests for removal of PII from the online catalog must be in the form of an affidavit, must be accompanied by the non-refundable fee listed in § 201.3(c), and must include the following information:

Requests under this paragraph (e) must be sent to the Office as prescribed in § 201.1(c).

A properly submitted request will be reviewed by the Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of the Office Public Information and Education or his or her designee(s) to determine whether the request should be granted or denied. The Office will send its decision to either grant or deny the request to the physical mail address or email address indicated in the request.

If the request is granted, the Office will remove the information from the online public catalog. Where substitute information has been provided, the Office will add that information to the online public catalog. In addition, a note indicating that the online record has been modified will be added to the online registration record. A new certificate of registration will be issued that reflects the modified information. The Office will maintain a copy of the original registration record on file in the Copyright Office, and such records shall be open to public inspection and copying pursuant to paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section. The Office will also maintain in its offline records the correspondence related to the request to remove PII.

Requests for reconsideration of denied requests to remove PII from the online public catalog must be made in writing within 30 days from the date of the denial letter. The request for reconsideration, and a non-refundable fee in the amount specified in § 201.3(c), must be sent to the Office as prescribed in § 201.1(c). The request must specifically address the grounds for denial of the initial request. Only one request for reconsideration will be considered per denial.