US Federal Government to require MSIE for copyright preregistration

Thu Aug 4 20:18:16 UTC 2005

On 8/4/05, Tony Nelson <tonynelson at georgeanelson.com> wrote:
> >From <http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2005/70fr44878.html>:
> 
> 
> [Federal Register: August 4, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 149)]
> [Proposed Rules]
> [Page 44878-44879]
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
> Copyright Office
> 
> 37 CFR Part 202
> [Docket No. RM 2005-9]
> 
> Preregistration of Certain Unpublished Copyright Claims
> 
> AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress
> 
> ACTION: Supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> SUMMARY:
> 
> The Copyright Office is supplementing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on
> preregistration of copyright claims, issued July 22, 2005. That notice
> proposed procedures to preregister any unpublished work being prepared for
> commercial distribution that is in a class of works determined by the
> Register of Copyrights to have had a history of pre-release infringement.
> Today's notice seeks information as to whether persons filing the
> electronic-only preregistration form prescribed by the Copyright Office
> will experience difficulties if it is necessary to use Microsoft's Internet
> Explorer web browser in order to preregister a work.
> 
> DATES:
> 
> Comments are due no later than August 22, 2005. Reply comments are due no
> later than September 7, 2005.
> 
> ADDRESSES:
> 
> If hand delivered by a private party, an original and five copies of any
> comment should be brought to Room LM-401 of the James Madison Memorial
> Building between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. and the envelope should be addressed
> as follows: Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Copyright Office, James
> Madison Memorial Building, Room LM-401, 101 Independence Avenue, SE.,
> Washington, DC 20559-6000. If hand delivered by a commercial courier, an
> original and five copies of any comment must be delivered to the
> Congressional Courier Acceptance Site located at Second and D Streets, NE.,
> Washington, DC, between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. The envelope should be
> addressed as follows: Copyright Office General Counsel, Room LM-403, James
> Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC. If
> sent by mail, an original and five copies of any comment should be
> addressed to: Copyright GC/ I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station,
> Washington, DC 20024-0400. Comments may not be delivered by means of
> overnight delivery services such as Federal Express, United Parcel Service,
> etc., due to delays in processing receipt of such deliveries.
> 
> FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
> 
> David O. Carson, General Counsel, or Charlotte Douglass, Principal Legal
> Advisor, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024-0400, Telephone (202)
> 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
> 
> SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
> 
> In accordance with the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005
> (the ART Act), Title I of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, Pub.
> L. No. 109-9, 119 Stat. 218, the Copyright Office recently proposed
> implementing regulations for preregistration of eligible copyright claims.
> 70 FR 42286 (July 22, 2005). To be eligible for preregistration, a work
> must be unpublished, in the process of being prepared for commercial
> distribution, and in a class of works that the Register of Copyrights
> determines has had a history of copyright infringement.
> 
> Section 104 of the ART Act directs that preregistration procedures must be
> in place by October 24, 2005. 17 U.S.C. 408(f)(1). To comply with this time
> frame and to facilitate efficient processing of preregistration claims,
> inter alia, the proposed rule calls for filing such claims by electronic
> means only. At this point in the process of
> 
> [[Page 44879]]
> 
> developing the Copyright Office's system for online preregistration, it is
> not entirely clear whether the system will be compatible with web browsers
> other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and higher. Filers of
> preregistration applications will be able to employ these Internet Explorer
> browsers successfully. Support for Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, and Mozilla
> 1.7.7 is planned but will not be available when preregistration goes into
> effect. Present users of these browsers may experience problems when filing
> claims.
> 
> In order to ensure that preregistration can be implemented in a smoothly
> functioning and timely manner, the Office now seeks comments that will
> assist it in determining whether any eligible parties will be prevented
> from preregistering a claim due to browser requirements of the
> preregistration system. Therefore, this notice seeks information whether
> any potential preregistration filers would have difficulties using Internet
> Explorer (version 5.1 or higher) to file preregistration claims, and if so,
> why. More generally, in the interest of achieving support for browsers in
> the Office's preregistration processing environment, this notice inquires
> whether (and why) an eligible party who anticipates preregistering a claim
> on the electronic-only form will not be able to use Internet Explorer to do
> so, or will choose not to preregister if it is necessary to use Internet
> Explorer.
> 
> The Office requests that responses to this supplemental notice of inquiry
> be made part of the responders' comments on the July 22nd Notice of
> Proposed Rulemaking. Whether or not accompanied by comments on the proposed
> rule, the response to this notice of inquiry should be submitted by the due
> dates for comment on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, i.e., no later than
> August 22, 2005, with reply comments due no later than September 7, 2005.
> 
> 
> 
> Dated: August 1, 2005.
> Tanya Sandros,
> Associate General Counsel.
> ____________________________________________________________________
> TonyN.:'                       <mailto:tonynelson at georgeanelson.com>
>       '                              <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>
> 

I just wrote this letter to them. Let's see what they have to say.
"Why do you require Internet Explorer to preregister? Are you
providing a download of IE that runs on linux, for linux users? Or
will linux users not be able to preregister? Specifically, what
features does IE have that are critical to the preregistration process
that are not found in more widely available browsers?"

Dotan Cohen
http://lyricslist.com/lyrics/artist_albums/64/beatles.php
The Beatles!