(a) General.

(1) This section prescribes conditions under which a request for full term retention, under the control of the Copyright Office, of copyright deposits (copies, phonorecords, or identifying material) of published works may be made and granted or denied pursuant to section 704(e) of title 17 of the United States Code. Only copies, phonorecords, or identifying material deposited in connection with registration of a claim to copyright under title 17 of the United States Code are within the provisions of this section. Only the depositor or the copyright owner of record of the work identified by the copyright deposit, or a duly authorized agent of the depositor or copyright owner, may request full term retention. A fee for this service is fixed by this section pursuant to section 708(a) of title 17 of the United States Code.

(2) For purposes of this section, under the control of the Copyright Office shall mean within the confines of Copyright Office buildings and under the control of Copyright Office employees, including retention in a Federal records center, but does not include transfer to the Library of Congress collections.

(3) For purposes of this section, full term retention means retention for a period of 75 years from the date of publication of the work identified by the particular copyright deposit which is retained.

(4) For purposes of this section, copyright deposit or its plural means the copy, phonorecord, or identifying material submitted to the Copyright Office in connection with a published work that is subsequently registered and made part of the records of the Office.

(b) Form and content of request for full term retention—

(1) Forms. The Copyright Office does not provide printed forms for the use of persons requesting full term retention of copyright deposits.

(2) Requests for full term retention must be made in writing addressed to the Director of the Office of Public Records and Repositories in the manner prescribed specified in §201.1(b)(1) of this chapter, and shall include a legally binding signature, including an electronic signature as defined in 15 U.S.C. 7006, of or on behalf of the depositor or copyright owner of record, and clearly indicate that full term retention is desired.

(3) The request for full term retention must adequately identify the particular copyright deposit to be retained, preferably by including the title used in the registration application, the name of the depositor or copyright owner of record, the publication date, and, if registration was completed earlier, the registration number.

(c) Conditions under which requests will be granted or denied—

(1) General. A request that meets the requirements of paragraph (b) of this section will generally be granted if the copyright deposit for which full term retention is requested has been continuously in the custody of the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress has not, by the date of the request, selected the copyright deposit for its collections.

(2) Time of request. The request for full term retention of a particular copyright deposit may be made at the time of deposit or at any time thereafter; however, the request will be granted only if at least one copy, phonorecord, or set of identifying material is in the custody of the Copyright Office at the time of the request. Where the request is made concurrent with the initial deposit of the work for registration, the requestor must submit one copy or phonorecord more than the number specified in §202.20 for the particular work.

(3) One deposit retained. The Copyright Office will retain no more than one copy, phonorecord, or set of identifying material for a given registered work.

(4) Denial of request for full term retention. The Copyright Office reserves the right to deny the request for full term retention where:

(i) The excessive size, fragility, or weight of the deposit would, in the sole discretion of the Register of Copyrights, constitute an unreasonable storage burden. The request may nevertheless be granted if, within 60 calendar days of the original denial of the request, the requestor pays the reasonable administrative costs, as fixed in the particular case by the Register of Copyrights, of preparing acceptable identifying materials for retention in lieu of the actual copyright deposit;

(ii) The Library of Congress has selected for its collections the single copyright deposit, or both, if two copies or phonorecords were deposited; or

(iii) Retention would result in a health or safety hazard, in the sole judgment of the Register of Copyrights. The request may nevertheless be granted if, within 60 calendar days of the original denial of the request, the requestor pays the reasonable administrative costs, as fixed in the particular case by the Register of Copyrights of preparing acceptable identifying materials for retention in lieu of the actual copyright deposit.

(d) Form of copyright deposit. If full term retention is granted, the Copyright Office will retain under its control the particular copyright deposit used to make registration for the work. Any deposit made on or after September 19, 1978, shall satisfy the requirements of §§202.20 and 202.21.

(e) Fee for full term retention.

(1) Pursuant to section 708(a) of title 17 of the United States Code, the Register of Copyrights has fixed the fee for full term retention, as prescribed in §201.3(d) of this chapter, for each copyright deposit granted full term retention.

(2) A check or money order in the amount prescribed in §201.3(d) of this chapter payable to the U.S. Copyright Office, must be received in the Copyright Office within 60 calendar days from the date of mailing of the Copyright Office's notification to the requestor that full term retention has been granted for a particular copyright deposit.

(3) The Copyright Office will issue a receipt acknowledging payment of the fee and identifying the copyright deposit for which full term retention has been granted.

(f) Selection by Library of Congress—

(1) General. All published copyright deposits are available for selection by the Library of Congress until the Copyright Office has formally granted a request for full term retention. Unless the requestor has deposited the additional copy or phonorecord specified by paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the Copyright Office will not process a request for full term retention submitted concurrent with a copyright registration application and deposit, until the Library of Congress has had a reasonable amount of time to make its selection determination.

(2) A request for full term retention made at the time of deposit of a published work does not affect the right of the Library to select one or both of the copyright deposits.

(3) If one copyright deposit is selected, the second deposit, if any, will be used for full term retention.

(4) If both copyright deposits are selected, or, in the case where the single deposit made is selected, full term retention will be granted only if the additional copy or phonorecord specified by paragraph (c)(2) was deposited.

(g) Termination of full term storage. Full term storage will cease 75 years after the date of publication of the work identified by the copyright deposit retained, and the copyright deposit will be disposed of in accordance with section 704, paragraphs (b) through (d), of title 17 of the United States Code.

[52 FR 28822, Aug. 4, 1987, as amended at 60 FR 34168, June 30, 1995; 63 FR 29139, May 28, 1998; 64 FR 29522, June 1, 1999; 64 FR 36575, July 7, 1999; 65 FR 39819, June 28, 2000; 73 FR 37839, July 2, 2008; 82 FR 9362, Feb. 6, 2017; 85 FR 19668, Apr. 8, 2020]