The Copyright Office has deleted the words that kept specialist outlets out of its news website registration option, and the definition it adopted is shorter than the one it proposed

Buried at the foot of a short amendment to 37 CFR 202.4 is a deletion of about thirty words.

The U.S. Copyright Office filed a final rule for public inspection on Wednesday morning changing the definition of a news website, which is the term that decides who may use the group registration option known as GRNW. The definition set in July 2024 required a site to be one that "contains a broad range of news on all subjects and activities and is not limited to any specific subject matter." That clause has been struck out.

Here is the whole of the amended definition:

News website means a website that is primarily designed to be a source of written information on current events, either local, national, or international in scope.

The Office says it has received more than four thousand applications under the option since the 2024 rule took effect, counted as of 16 July.

What was proposed and what was adopted

The proposal published in May set out three things. A site would not need to report on a broad range of news on all subjects and activities, but only "on a variety of subjects"; its primary function would be reporting on current events; and its news content would be "updated frequently."

The definition adopted on Wednesday carries the second of those three and neither of the other two. The rest of paragraph (m), which governs how the option works, is not amended.

The distinction shows up in the Office's own reasoning. The American Intellectual Property Law Association had asked for wording saying explicitly that a site reporting on one topic qualifies, citing a technology publication as the example. The Office declined, on the ground that industry specific sites are already covered "so long as they report on a variety of subjects within the area of focus." That condition does not appear in the text it went on to codify.

Effective on publication

Seven comments came in and the Office says it considered each. The National Association of Broadcasters, the News/Media Alliance, the Copyright Alliance, Public Knowledge and the American Association of Independent Music supported the amendment. The National Writers Union restated a broader objection it had made in 2024 and asked for changes the Office treated as outside the scope of this rulemaking.

The rule takes effect immediately rather than after the customary thirty days, on the good cause grounds in 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1) and (3), because it removes a restriction. It is dated 10 August, signed by Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights, and approved by Robert Newlen, the Acting Librarian of Congress. Publication is set for 13 August.

Disclosure: this publication is a news website and sits within the class of works this registration option covers.