Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress - Steve Coker
Subject: Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress
From: Steve Coker
Date: November 12, 1998

COPYRIGHT LAW OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
CHAPTER 4 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE, DEPOSIT, AND REGISTRATION

§ 407. Deposit of copies or phonorecords for Library of Congress

[Note: Section 407 was amended in subsection (a) by the Act of October 31, 1988,
Pub. L. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2859, which struck out the words "with notice
of copyright".]

(a) Except as provided by subsection (c), and subject to the provisions of
subsection (e), the owner of copyright or of the exclusive right of publication
in a work published in the United States shall deposit, within three months
after the date of such publication-- 

   (1) two complete copies of the best edition; or 
 
   (2) if the work is a sound recording, two complete phonorecords of the best
edition, together with any printed or other visually perceptible material
published with such phonorecords.

Neither the deposit requirements of this subsection nor the acquisition
provisions of subsection (e) are conditions of copyright protection. 

(b) The required copies or phonorecords shall be deposited in the Copyright
Office for the use or disposition of the Library of Congress. The Register of
Copyrights shall, when requested by the depositor and upon payment of the fee
prescribed by section 708, issue a receipt for the deposit. 

(c) The Register of Copyrights may by regulation exempt any categories of
material from the deposit requirements of this section, or require deposit of
only one copy or phonorecord with respect to any categories. Such regulations
shall provide either for complete exemption from the deposit requirements of
this section, or for alternative forms of deposit aimed at providing a
satisfactory archival record of a work without imposing practical or financial
hardships on the depositor, where the individual author is the owner of
copyright in a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work and (i) less than five
copies of the work have been published, or (ii) the work has been published in a
limited edition consisting of numbered copies, the monetary value of which would
make the mandatory deposit of two copies of the best edition of the work
burdensome, unfair, or unreasonable. 

(d) At any time after publication of a work as provided by subsection (a), the
Register of Copyrights may make written demand for the required deposit on any
of the persons obligated to make the deposit under subsection (a). Unless
deposit is made within three months after the demand is received, the person or
persons on whom the demand was made are liable-- 

   (1) to a fine of not more than $250 for each work; and 

   (2) to pay into a specially designated fund in the Library of Congress the
total retail price of the copies or phonorecords demanded, or, if no retail
price has been fixed, the reasonable cost to the Library of Congress of
acquiring them; and 

   (3) to pay a fine of $2,500, in addition to any fine or liability imposed
under clauses (1) and (2), if such person willfully or repeatedly fails or
refuses to comply with such a demand.

(e) With respect to transmission programs that have been fixed and transmitted
to the public in the United States but have not been published, the Register of
Copyrights shall, after consulting with the Librarian of Congress and other
interested organizations and officials, establish regulations governing the
acquisition, through deposit or otherwise, of copies or phonorecords of such
programs for the collections of the Library of Congress. 

   (1) The Librarian of Congress shall be permitted, under the standards and
conditions set forth in such regulations, to make a fixation of a transmission
program directly from a transmission to the public, and to reproduce one copy or
phonorecord from such fixation for archival purposes. 

   (2) Such regulations shall also provide standards and procedures by which the
Register of Copyrights may make written demand, upon the owner of the right of
transmission in the United States, for the deposit of a copy or phonorecord of a
specific transmission program. Such deposit may, at the option of the owner of
the right of transmission in the United States, be accomplished by gift, by loan
for purposes of reproduction, or by sale at a price not to exceed the cost of
reproducing and supplying the copy or phonorecord. The regulations established
under this clause shall provide reasonable periods of not less than three months
for compliance with a demand, and shall allow for extensions of such periods and
adjustments in the scope of the demand or the methods for fulfilling it, as
reasonably warranted by the circumstances. Willful failure or refusal to comply
with the conditions prescribed by such regulations shall subject the owner of
the right of transmission in the United States to liability for an amount, not
to exceed the cost of reproducing and supplying the copy or phonorecord in
question, to be paid into a specially designated fund in the Library of
Congress. 
 
   (3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require the making or
retention, for purposes of deposit, of any copy or phonorecord of an unpublished
transmission program, the transmission of which occurs before the receipt of a
specific written demand as provided by clause (2). 

   (4) No activity undertaken in compliance with regulations prescribed under
clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection shall result in liability if intended
solely to assist in the acquisition of copies or phonorecords under this
subsection.
______________________

Section 407 was amended in subsection (a) by the Act of October 31, 1988, Pub.
L. 100-568, 102 Stat. 2853, 2859, which struck out the words "with notice of
copyright". 

U.S. Copyright Office
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

[email protected]
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/title17/4-407.html
11/10/98


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