Office’s central print room, mail functions, and temporary storage. The Division also processes all incoming fees and maintains accounts, related records, and reports involving fees received.
101.2(H)(2) Licensing Division
The Licensing Division administers certain statutory licenses set forth in the Copyright Act. The Division collects royalty payments and examines statements of account for the cable statutory license (17 U.S.C. § 111), the satellite statutory license for retransmission of distant television broadcast stations (17 U.S.C. § 119), and the statutory license for digital audio recording technology (17 U.S.C. chapter 10). The Division also accepts and records documents associated with the use of the mechanical statutory license (17 U.S.C. §115).
101.2(H)(3) Copyright Acquisitions Division
The Copyright Acquisitions Division (“CAD”) administers the mandatory deposit requirements of the Copyright Act, acting as a trusted intermediary between copyright owners of certain published works and the acquisitions staff in the Library of Congress. 17 U.S.C. § 407. This Office creates and updates records for the copies received by the U.S. Copyright Office; demands particular works or particular formats of works as necessary; administers deposit agreements between the Library and copyright owners; and assists the Office in public discussions and rulemakings regarding the submission requirements for digital works and the best edition requirements.
101.3 Functions of the U.S. Copyright Office
The functions of the U.S. Copyright Office are set forth in Title 17 of the U.S. Code, which includes the provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 as well chapters on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), vessel designs, and other Sui generis protections and exemptions (referenced in this Compendium, as the case may require, as “Title 17,” the “DMCA,” or the “Copyright Act,” or with respect to the latter, the “1976 Act” or “Act”). The statute directs the Register of Copyrights, as Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, to carry out a variety of activities, which are described in Sections 101.3(A) through 101.3(D).
101.3(A) National Copyright Registration and Recordation System
The Copyright Act establishes the U.S. Copyright Office’s statutory obligation to administer both a copyright registration and copyright recordation system on behalf of the Nation. Pursuant to its provisions, the Office undertakes the following duties, among others:
- Registration: The U.S. Copyright Office examines applications for registering claims to copyright and any accompanying deposit copy(ies) to determine whether they satisfy the statutory requirements for registrability, including copyrightability, and otherwise comply with the Office’s regulations. Based on its findings, the Office then either registers or refuses to register the claims. Many of the controlling provisions for registration are set forth in Chapter 4 of the Copyright Act. Section 408 of the Act authorizes the Register to promulgate regulations to allow identifying material in
