Copyright Office Changes to Group Registration of Newsletters and Serials

March 29th, 2019 – Adam

By Patrick B. Monahan
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On November 30, 2018, the U.S. Copyright Office announced changes to the procedures governing registration of groups of issues of serials and newsletters. These changes, which went into effect on December 31, 2018, eliminate paper filing and also formalize existing Copyright Office policy regarding the meaning of a “work,” which can affect the statutory damages available for a registered serial or newsletter.

General Changes to Group Registration Applying to Both Serials and Newsletters

First, the rule change states that a group registration of works “covers each issue in the group and each issue is registered as a separate work or a separate collective work (as the case may be).” This change makes clear that the relevant “work” eligible for statutory damages in infringement litigation under the Copyright Act is each issue of a given newsletter or serial, not each group registration of issues. This change codifies what had long been the position of the Copyright Office.

Second, the Copyright Act provides that, unless exempted by the Copyright Office, copyright holders must submit two copies of each work they publish for the use of the Library of Congress. In the rule change, the Copyright Office has provided clearer guidance on how publishers can comply with this requirement. If a serial or newsletter is published in the United States in hard-copy format, the publisher is expected to provide the Library of Congress with two complimentary hard-copy subscriptions unless the publisher is notified otherwise. Conversely, if a serial or newsletter is only published in the United States in electronic format, the publisher is not expected to provide the Library of Congress with any subscriptions unless a formal demand is issued.

Procedural Changes to Group Registration of Serials

Serials are works, such as a weekly magazine, published in successive issues bearing numerical or chronological designations and intended to be continued indefinitely. Effective December 31, 2018, the Copyright Office generally requires all applicants, unless they can demonstrate hardship necessitating paper application, to register groups of serial issues using the eCO online application system found at https://eco.copyright.gov, uploading each issue in searchable PDF format. Form SE/Group, the paper application form currently accepted by the Copyright Office, will eventually be discontinued, and applicants are required to upload each issue of a given newsletter in searchable PDF format. The Copyright Office will continue to accept paper applications for group registration of serials for a twelve-month grace period.

The rule change also codifies several existing Copyright Office requirements regarding group registration of serials:

• Each application must include at least two serial issues,
• Each issue in an application must be a work made for hire,
• The author and copyright claimant of each issue in a given application must be the same person or organization,
• Each issue in an application must be an all-new collective work that has not previously been published, and
• Each issue in an application must be distributed as a self-contained collective work.

Finally, the rule change eliminates the requirement that a group of serial issues on a given application must have been published within a three-month period in the same calendar year. However, please note that pursuant to the Copyright Act, in order to be eligible for statutory damages awards in copyright infringement litigation, applications for group registration of serials still must be submitted within three months of the date of publication of the final issue in the group.

Procedural Changes to Group Registration of Newsletters

Newsletters are a type of serial, namely, a specialty, non-general interest periodical published at least twice weekly and unavailable at retail outlets. Effective December 31, 2018, the Copyright Office generally requires all applicants, unless they can demonstrate hardship, to register groups of newsletters using the eCO online application system. Form G/DN, the paper application form currently accepted by the Copyright Office, will be discontinued, and applicants will be required to upload each issue of a given newsletter in searchable PDF format. Please note that there is no grace period for group registration of newsletters – as of December 31, 2018, paper applications will no longer be accepted.

The updated rule removes several existing requirements of newsletters:

• Newsletters need not be collective works,
• Newsletters need not be works made for hire, and
• Groups of newsletters no longer need to be submitted within three months of publication of the last published issue for registration purposes. However, as is the case with serials, please note that pursuant to the Copyright Act, in order to be eligible for statutory damages awards in copyright infringement litigation, applications for group registration of newsletters still must be submitted within three months of the date of publication of the final issue in the group.

A Note on File-Naming Conventions

For both serials and newsletters, the Copyright Office requires that applicants use a particular file-naming convention for issues to be uploaded as part of the online application process.

For serials, the following convention should be used:

• If an International Standard Serial Number (“ISSN”) has not been assigned to the serial, each issue file should be named:
• “GRSE_[title_of_serial]_[date_of_publication YYYYMMDD].pdf” (for instance, the file name for the August 1, 2018 issue of Fashion Weekly would be “GRSE_fashion_weekly_20180801.pdf”.
• If an ISSN has been assigned to the serial, each issue should be named:
• Similarly, for newsletters, the following convention should be used:
• “GRSE_[ISSN number]_[date of publication YYYYMMDD].pdf” (for instance, the file name for the August 1, 2018 issue of a serial with ISSN 1234-5678 would be “GRSE_12345678_20180801.pdf”.
• If an ISSN has not been assigned:
• “GRNL_[title_of_newsletter]_[date of publication YYYYMMDD].pdf”.
• If an ISSN has been assigned:
• “GRNL_[ISSN_number]_[date of publication YYYYMMDD].pdf”.

For more detailed instructions, consult the respective help texts for serials (https://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-serial.html) and newsletters (https://www.copyright.gov/eco/help-newsletters.html).

If you have any questions about the foregoing, or about the eCO online filing system, please do not hesitate to contact us.

The changes are set forth in 37 CFR Part 201 and 37 CFR Part 202 of the Code of Federal Registrations. For more information, the Federal Register entry announcing the rule changes is available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/11/30/2018-26091/group-registration-of-newsletters-and-serials.