Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante has released a public draft of the
Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition (the “Third Edition”). This is expected to be the first major revision of the law in more than two decades. The draft presents more than 1200 pages of administrative practices and sets the stage for a number of long-term improvements in registration and recordation policy.
This document will remain in draft form for 120 days pending final review and implementation. It is expected to take effect on or around December 15, 2014.
DMLA (formerly PACA) counsel Nancy E. Wolff, Esq. has identified the sections that are most relevant to the photographic community. She recommends that agencies and image creators consider the following.
Chapter 0900 deals with Visual Arts Works and is 49 pages pages long.
Chapter 1000 deals with Websites and Website Content and is also 49 pages long.
Chapter 1100 is 82 pages long and deals with Registration for Multiple Works and Group Registrations.
Section 1119 of this chapter deals with “Photographs at a glance” and is a succinct 3 page chart of the changes that starts on page 80 of section 1100.
This section provides and overview of the similarities and difference between the option for registering a group of published photographs, the option for registering a group of contributions to periodicals, and the option for registering a number of unpublished works.
For information concerning the specific requirements for the group registration options for published photographs and contributions to periodicals, see Sections 1115 and 1116. For information concerning the specific requirements for the option for unpublished works, see Section 1106.
It may be worth taking a look at this section, at least.