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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 32 / Friday, February 19, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
the event sponsor to grant general permission to enter the regulated area.
Dated: February 11, 2021.
T.J. Barelli, Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the Port San Diego.
FR Doc. 202103312 Filed 21821; 8:45 am BILLING CODE 911004P

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office 37 CFR Part 202
Docket No. 20178

Secure Tests U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Interim rule.
AGENCY:

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing an interim rule amending its regulations governing the registration of copyright claims in secure tests and secure test items in order to address a temporary disruption caused by the COVID19 pandemic. The interim rule allows for examination of these claims via secure videoconference during the national emergency.
DATE: Effective February 19, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights, regans@copyright.gov, or Robert J.
Kasunic, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy and Practice, rkas@copyright.gov.
They can be reached by telephone at 2027073000.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

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I. Background Under section 408 of the Copyright Act, the U.S. Copyright Office is responsible for registering copyright claims.1 In so doing, the Office is obligated to obtain a registration deposit that is sufficient to verify the claim and to provide an archival record of what was examined and registered.2 Deposits of unpublished material must be kept for the full term of copyright protection,3 and all deposits are available for public inspection.4 The Act, however, authorizes the Office to issue regulations establishing the nature of the copies . . . to be deposited in specific classes of works and to permit, for particular classes, 1 17

U.S.C. 408.
408b, 705a.
3 Id. 704d.
4 Id. 705b.
2 Id.

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the deposit of identifying material instead of copies or phonorecords. 5
Pursuant to that authority, the Office has long provided special registration procedures for secure tests that require the maintenance of confidentiality of their contents. These tests include tests used in connection with admission to educational institutions, high school equivalency, placement in or credit for undergraduate and graduate course work, awarding of scholarships, and professional certification. 6 Current regulations define a secure test as a nonmarketed test administered under supervision at specified centers on scheduled dates, all copies of which are accounted for and either destroyed or returned to restricted locked storage or secure electronic storage following each administration. 7
On June 12, 2017, the Office issued an interim rule the June 2017 Interim Rule that memorialized certain aspects of its secure test procedure and adopted new processes to increase the efficiency of its examination of such works.8 Under this rule, applicants must, among other things, submit an online application, a redacted copy of the entire test, and a brief questionnaire about the test through the electronic registration system.9 This procedure allows the Office to prescreen an application to determine whether the work appears to be eligible for registration as a secure test. If the test appears to qualify, the Office will schedule an in-person appointment for examination of an unredacted copy of the test.10 All in-person appointments take place at the Copyright Office, located in Washington, DC, at the James Madison Memorial Building of the Library of Congress.
During the in-person meeting, the examiner reviews the redacted and unredacted copies in a secure location in the presence of the applicant or its representative.11 If the examiner determines that the relevant legal and formal requirements have been met, he or she will register the claims and add 5 Id.

408c1.
FR 59302, 59304 & n.2 Nov. 16, 1977; see also 43 FR 763, 768 Jan. 4, 1978 adopting the definition of a secure test.
7 37 CFR 202.13b1.
8 82 FR 26850 June 12, 2017; see 37 CFR 202.13, 202.20b3, c2vi implementing the June 2017
Interim Rule.
9 37 CFR 202.13c2.
10 Id.
11 The applicant must bring to the meeting, among other materials, a signed declaration confirming that the redacted copy brought to the meeting is identical to the redacted copy that was uploaded to the electronic registration system. Id.
202.13c3iv.
6 42

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an annotation to the certificate reflecting that the work was examined under the secure test procedure. The registration is effective as of the date that the Office receivedin proper formthe application, filing fee, and the redacted copy that was uploaded to the electronic registration system.12 The June 2017
Interim Rule thus gives applicants the benefit of establishing as their effective date of registration the date when those redacted materials are initially submitted to, and received by, the Office electronically, rather than the later date when the in-person examination of the unredacted material takes place.
In response to concerns raised by stakeholders following the June 2017
Interim Rule, the Office issued a second interim rule on November 13, 2017 the November 2017 Interim Rule to permit the registration of a group of test items i.e., sets of questions and answers stored in a database or test bank and used to create secure tests.13
For these claims, the November 2017
Interim Rule adopted most of the registration procedures that apply to secure tests under the June 2017 Interim Rule.
On May 8, 2020, the Office issued a third interim rule to address a disruption caused by the COVID19
pandemic the May 2020 Interim Rule.14 Specifically, certain tests that normally would qualify for registration as secure tests could be rendered ineligible for this option, because they were being administered remotely rather than at specified testing centers due to pandemic-related restrictions. The interim rule amended the definition of a secure test to allow otherwiseeligible tests currently being administered online during the national emergency to qualify as secure tests, provided the test administrator employed sufficient security measures.15 The rule did not specify particular measures required to meet this standard, in order to afford applicants flexibility to tailor such processes to their specific needs. The Office noted that the rule did not alter the requirement that a secure test be administered under supervision, meaning that test proctors or the equivalent supervise the administration of the test. 16
12 82

FR at 26853.
FR 52224 Nov. 13, 2017. See 37 CFR
202.4b, k, 202.13 implementing the November 2017 Interim Rule.
14 85 FR 27296 May 8, 2020. See 37 CFR
202.13b1 implementing the May 2020 Interim Rule.
15 37 CFR 202.13b1.
16 85 FR at 27298; see 37 CFR 202.13b3.
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