News/Media Alliance Applauds the Copyright Office for Modernizing Registration of Online News Content, Protecting Investments in Vital Public Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arlington, VA - The News/Media Alliance commends the U.S. Copyright Office for today adopting the rule on group registration of updates to news websites. The rule, originally proposed in January, allows publishers to submit copies of their homepages as identifying material to evaluate for registration on a monthly basis. Previously, publishers lacked a feasible way to protect their online properties as registration would have required the submission of complete copies of publisher websites for each day.

News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey said, "This is a significant development that allows publishers to effectively protect and fight against the systemic misappropriation of their content online. This option has been a long time coming and we applaud the Copyright Office for taking this important step forward."

Timely registration of copyrights is vital for publishers as without it, rightsholders are not entitled to statutory damages and attorney's fees. Due to the high cost of litigating copyright cases in federal courts, these damages are necessary to make the enforcement of copyrights viable for publishers. Before today, publishers lacked the ability to reasonably access the full benefits of the copyright system.

The new rule applies to news websites and will become effective immediately. The rule is based on the same application as the pre-existing group registration option for newspapers - which the Alliance played an important role in developing prior to its adoption in 2018 - including the registration fee.

Coffey continued, "Dominant technology companies and artificial intelligence developers, along with other websites and aggregators, systemically take and use publisher content, far too often without authorization or compensation. Efficient and meaningful copyright protection and enforcement is vital for preserving access to high-quality journalism for the communities our members serve. Without this vital service, we risk a future of low-quality information that harms the health of our democracy."

While the rule represents an important development for many Alliance members, we will continue to work with the Copyright Office to build on it in order to expand reasonable registration options for other types of publisher content online.

Read the final rule here.

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Media contact:
Lindsey Loving
Director, Communications
[email protected]

The News/Media Alliance is a nonprofit organization representing more than 2,200 news, magazine, and digital media organizations and their multiplatform businesses in the United States and globally. Alliance members include print and digital publishers of original journalism. Headquartered just outside Washington, D.C., the association focuses on ensuring the future of journalism through communication, research, advocacy, and innovation. Information about the News/Media Alliance can be found at www.newsmediaalliance.org.

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