US Copyright Office Issues Final Rule To Remove Personal Information from Registration Records | Practical Law

US Copyright Office Issues Final Rule To Remove Personal Information from Registration Records | Practical Law

The US Copyright Office issued a final rule allowing copyright registrants to request the replacement or removal of their personally identifiable information (PII) from the Office's online registration catalog.

US Copyright Office Issues Final Rule To Remove Personal Information from Registration Records

by Practical Law Intellectual Property & Technology
Published on 02 Feb 2017 • USA (National/Federal)
The US Copyright Office issued a final rule allowing copyright registrants to request the replacement or removal of their personally identifiable information (PII) from the Office's online registration catalog.
On February 2, 2017, the US Copyright Office issued a final rule that will allow copyright registrants to request the replacement or removal of their personally identifiable information (PII) from the Copyright Office's online registration catalog, though the PII will be retained in the Office's offline records (82 FR 9004-01, (Feb. 2, 2017)). The rule also codifies an existing informal Copyright Office practice of removing, on its own or on request, extraneous PII such as driver's license and social security numbers, and financial information.
The final rule includes one notable change to the proposed rules related to replacing the legal name on the record:
  • The final rule allows author or claimant names to be replaced in cases of a legal name change when accompanied by official documentation of the change.
  • In cases where a name is replaced, the online registration record will indicate only that a change was made to the record, without specifying that the change was to the legal name.
The rule becomes effective on March 6, 2017.