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January 16, 2025

U.S. Copyright Office Activities in 2024: A Year in Review

by Rachel Kim

In the previous blog post, we covered various copyright-related legislation during last year’s Congressional session. 2024 also proved to be a busy year for the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) whose staff were not only continuing to study and compose reports for its Artificial Intelligence (AI) study, but also simultaneously conducting important rulemakings. There was also increased activity related to modernization of the Copyright Office and its registration systems. Here are some highlights of USCO activities in 2024 and what we can expect from the Office in 2025.

The Copyright Office continued working on its AI study, while also holding ex parte meetings with stakeholders throughout 2024 on AI and copyright issues. The first report on digital replicas was released in July 2024. In that report, the Copyright Office proposed the adoption of new federal law relating to digital replicas that would, among other things, place liability on the distribution or making available of an unauthorized digital replica. The Office proposed that the term of protection endure for at least an individual’s lifetime with limited postmortem protections and a balancing framework built into legislation to address free speech concerns. In the report, the Office acknowledged the issues arising from AI outputs that deliberately imitate an artist’s style but did not recommend including protection for a creator’s style in digital replica legislation.

The remaining two reports in the Office’s study will be focused on: 1) the copyrightability of AI output and; 2) the legal implications of the use of copyright protected materials for AI training purposes. In a Congressional Oversight Hearing, Register Perlmutter stated that the Office hopes that the remaining reports, particularly on the fair use and ingestion issues, will be a useful analytical framework for federal courts which (as detailed in our year-in-review blog of AI and copyright cases) are actively some of these issues. The Copyright Office indicated in a letter at the end of 2024 that Part 2 of the report, addressing copyrightability of generative AI outputs, is expected to be published towards the beginning of the New Year, while Part 3 of the report, analyzing legal issues related to AI ingestion, liability, and licensing considerations will be published in the first quarter of 2025.

In addition to finalizing the AI study, we can expect additional AI and copyright activities from the Copyright Office in 2025. First, the USCO’s Office of the Chief Economist is due to release its proposal of a research agenda to address various AI and copyright policy issues. It will be interesting to see which topics are proposed, in light of other emerging reports on AI and copyright issues including those that project the economic harms of generative AI on music creators. Second, the Office will update its registration guidance for works with AI-generated elements and plans on publishing a notice regarding updates to its Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practicesrelated to the Office’s registration examination policies and procedures of AI-assisted works.

In 2024, the Copyright Office published final rules on a variety of copyright issues.

  • Final Rule for Certain Sound Recording Royalty Rates for Business Establishments: On January 3, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) published a final rule setting forth the royalty rates for the making of ephemeral copies of sound recordings to business establishments for the period of January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2028.
  • Final Rule on CCB ‘Smaller Claims’ Proceedings: On January 16, the Copyright Office published a final rule clarifying certain procedures and rules for “smaller claims” proceedings before the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). The final rule, among other things, clarified that (i) a CCB claimant may change its election for a “standard” CCB proceeding to a “small claims” proceeding before service of the claims and (ii) a CCB Officer can address and impose remedies to address both the failure to submit evidence in accordance with the CCB’s request and/or the submission of evidence that was not served on the other party or provided by the other side. The final rule also stated that CCB Officers can hold a conference to explore the possibility of consolidating separate CCB proceedings and claims that arise out of the same facts and circumstances that involve the same or substantially the same parties.
  • Final Rule on Termination Rights Under the MMA: On July 9, the Copyright Office issued a final rule regarding how the Copyright Act’s derivative works exception to termination rights applies to the statutory mechanical blanket license established by the Music Modernization Act (MMA). The Office rejected arguments that it lacks appropriate statutory authority to make substantive evaluations on the termination issue, arguing that interpreting copyright law in the context of a statutory license has been a longstanding responsibility and duty. The Office also stated that the final rule is a “scaled-down version” of the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM). Modifications included direction to The MLC to distribute royalties based on its records of who the copyright owner is at the time of payment, subject to certain instances, including if The MLC is notified of a different payee and scaling down on notice requirements for various types of ownership transfers by permitting The MLC to establish details for such notices.
  • Final Rule for Group Registration Option for News Websites: On July 22, the Copyright Office published a final rule establishing a new group registration option for frequently updated news websites (GRNW). Under the final rule, news publishers can now register groups of updates to news websites published within the same calendar month as a collective work for a fee of $95. The rule also directed applicants to file deposit copies consisting of PDF files that each contain a complete copy of the home page of the website.
  • Final Rule Adjusting Fees and Process of CCB Final Determination Certifications: On October 4, the Copyright Office published a final rule adjusting the process and fee to obtain a certified official record of a final determination from the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). The Office noted that the prior process of requesting a certified official record of a CCB final determination could result in combined fees that amount to more than the cost of initiating a CCB proceeding. In the final rule, the Office made the CCB itself responsible for handling these requests, clarified that only the final determination or amended final determination itself must be certified (and not the entire record), and set the certification fee to $15.
  • Final Rule on Exemptions to Prohibition of Anticircumvention of Technical Protection Measures from Ninth Triennial Rulemaking Proceeding: On October 28, the Copyright Office and Library of Congress published a final rule adopting exemptions to the provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that prohibits circumvention of Technological Protection Measures (TPMs) that control access to copyrighted works. The Librarian of Congress adopted all of the Register’s recommendations regarding new or expanded exemptions. Existing exemptions for which renewal petitions were filed were all renewed as-is. New or Expanded exemptions include: (1) Expansion to existing exemptions on circumvention of TPMs on copyrighted audiovisual and literary works to enable researchers to perform text and data mining for the purpose of scholarly research and teaching; (2) a new exemption covering diagnosis, maintenance, and repair of retail-level commercial food preparation equipment (declining to recommend a broader class of software-enabled commercial and industrial devices); and (3) a new exemption to permit circumvention of TPMs on vehicle operational and telematics data generated by motorized land vehicles and marine vessels. The Librarian also rejected several petitions for new exemptions based on the Register’s recommendations, including a proposal to exempt the circumvention of TPMs on computer programs for generative AI research.
  • Final Rule on Various Sound Recording Royalty Rates: On December 21, the CRB issued a correction to its final rule governing certain sound recording royalty rates for commercial and noncommercial noninteractive webcasters. On the same day, the CRB also issued a correction to its final rule governing musical works royalty rates for making and distributing phonorecords.

The Office currently has ten ongoing rulemaking proceedings, including for a new group registration for 2D artworks, administration of blanket license royalties under the Music Modernization Act, and the periodic review of the designations for The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). We may see a few final rules come out in 2025, particularly as the Office looks to modernize its registration system.

In 2024, the Copyright Office also made some progress on its modernization efforts, most importantly refocusing on its registration system modernization efforts. This included efforts such as finalizing the rule for the new group registration option for updates to news websites (as noted above), and launching a rulemaking regarding the creation of a new group registration option for two-dimensional artwork. The new option, which will be known as “GR2D” once it is finalized, would allow applicants to register up to ten pictorial or graphic works that are created by the same author/copyright claimant published within a thirty-day time period.

Progress on registration modernization became more of a focal point for the Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC) as well. The CPMC is a committee of stakeholders that publicly engage with the Copyright Office and Library of Congress’s modernization efforts and provide feedback. In 2024, the Library of Congress held CPMC meetings in February and October. At the February meeting, the Library of Congress’ (Library) IT staff provided a demonstration of its Stacks system and explained the various technological and other measures in place for on-site access to rights-restricted content.

After the first term of the CPMC expired, in September, the Librarian of Congress renewed the CPMC and announced members of the renewed committee (CPMC 2.0). At its October meeting with the new CPMC 2.0 the Library and Copyright Office staff provided updates and demonstrations of the new registration components of the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS). Register Perlmutter gave opening remarks, noting that the ECS development teams were continuing to add capabilities to the recordation and public records components of ECS, while prioritizing the registration component. Associate Register, Rob Kasunic, also gave a demonstration of the new ECS registration system pilot, which displayed modernized user interfaces, the ability to view previews of uploads, faster and better upload capabilities, and capabilities to easily populate titles of multiple works using their file names. Kasunic also announced that the Office will be looking to move from physical copyright registration certificates to digital registration certificates.

In terms of testing the new registration system in the new year, the Office stated that such activities will occur between January and February of 2025, with a full integration of the various components slated to occur in late 2025. We can also expect that the next meeting of the CPMC is likely to occur this year so that the ECS development teams can report on the initial results of the pilot program. Copyright Office modernization remains one of top issues for creators and copyright owners. With increased engagement and more frequent CPMC meetings, we hope that increased attention will be given and progress will be made on the Copyright Office’s registration systems in 2025.

Besides its AI Study in 2024, the Copyright Office also published reports covering other copyright law topics, including some interesting revelations on copyright economics.

  • USCO and USPTO Joint NFT Study: On March 12, the Copyright Office and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published their joint report to Congress on Non-Fungible Tokens and Intellectual Property. The main takeaway was that the Offices agreed that “existing statutory enforcement mechanisms are currently sufficient to address infringement concerns related to NFT applications and that changes to IP laws, or to the Offices’ registration and recordation practices, are not necessary or advisable at this time.”
  • Report on Geographical Distribution of Copyright Registrations: On September 11, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) published a report titled The Geography of Copyright Registrations, which focused on the geographic distribution of copyright registrations within the United States based on data collected from copyright claims registered between 2009-2022. The report revealed that forty percent of all copyright registrations originate from five large metropolitan areas: New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, and Chicago. The report also contained some interesting insights into various pockets of copyright activities in areas of the U.S. which are non-legacy creative hubs. The Copyright Office stated that a forthcoming report will focus on the demographics of copyright registrations in the United States.

In 2025, we may see additional reports from the Office, especially from the Chief Economists’ Office. Most importantly, the Office is due to launch a study on the fees it charges for its services, including for registration examination. Especially in the context of the Office’s registration modernization efforts, this year is an opportune time for creators and copyright owners to weigh in and provide suggestions on flexible fee structures and pricing methods so that registration can be accessible and affordable for all creators and copyright owners.

The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) completed its second year of operations and is one of Register Perlmutter’s greatest accomplishments to date. In fall 2024,the CCB published a CCB Statistics Summary factsheet that analyzes data gathered from claims filed from June 2022 (when the CCB was launched) to September 2024. It reported that 989 total claims had been filed, with 46% of those claims being filed through the streamlined, “smaller claims” process. In addition, 21% of claimants were represented by outside legal counsel. The CCB also reported that 839 claimants resided in the U.S. while 150 claimants resided outside of the country. Most domestic claimants were from California (168), followed by New York (95), Texas (74), and Pennsylvania (71).

Since the CCB is on its way into its third year of operations in 2025, it has issued numerous final determinations for which the Copyright Alliance has been tracking statistics. By the end of 2024, the CCB issued 33 final determinations. Claimants prevailed approximately 70% of the time and the average damage amount awarded to claimants was $3,651. Twenty-one percent of the final determinations issued by the CCB were issued in cases brought through the “smaller claims” process. The average time it took for the CCB to issue a final determination from the time a case was first filed through a standard proceeding was approximately 14.7 months, while for a case filed through the “smaller claims” process, the average time was roughly 11.6 months.

Additionally in November 2024, the CCB awarded its highest damage amounts to date when it issued a final determination in Wareka v. Carroll, awarding the claimant 11K in statutory damages. Tamara Wareka brought claims against Sabrina Carroll who is the sole owner and founder of a skin care clinic called Sky Lounge LLC, over the unlicensed use of five of Wareka’s photographs in Sky Lounge advertisements. In adopting a proposed default final determination, the Board found Carroll vicariously liable for copyright infringement and awarded statutory damages of $2,200 per work.

As the CCB continues to issue final determinations, the Copyright Office will be busy preparing its statutorily mandated study of the CCB for Congress. In 2025, we can expect to see the Copyright Office launch its study, which will be an opportune time for parties who have participated in the CCB to provide comments and feedback on their experiences using the small-claims copyright system. This is also a great opportunity for creators and copyright owners who have not used or participated in the CCB to weigh in with comments, so that Congress and the Copyright Office can improve the CCB so that it is an accessible, affordable, and streamlined way of bringing small copyright claims.

Conclusion

If 2024 was a busy year for the Copyright Office, 2025 is shaping out to be an even busier one with the upcoming fee study and CCB study in addition to the Office’s remaining activities and work on AI and copyright policies and issues. We also hope to see considerable progress on the modernization of the copyright registration system through increased and timely engagement with the CPMC and pilot testing with creators and copyright registrants in addition to identifying areas in the law, regulations, or agency guidance where there may be gaps to fill to help and encourage creators and copyright owners to register their works.

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