.

I. Background

On December 8, 1994, President Clinton signed the "Uruguay Round
Agreements Act" (URAA), Pub. L. No. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809. The URAA
contains several significant copyright amendments. It amends the
software rental provision found in 17 U.S.C. 109(b) by eliminating the
expiration or sunset date, amends Titles 17 and 18 to create civil and
criminal remedies for "bootlegging" sound recordings of live musical
performances and music videos, and adds a new 17 U.S.C. Sec. 104A which
restores copyright in certain foreign works. The URAA also gives the
Copyright Office several responsibilities related to restoration of
those works.

A. Restoration of Copyright in Eligible Works

Under the URAA, restoration of copyright in works from countries which
are currently eligible occurs automatically on January 1, 1996. An
eligible country is a nation, other than the United States, that is a
member of the Berne Convention, <SUP>1 or a member of

[[Page 50415]]

the World Trade Organization, or is the subject of a presidential
proclamation declaring its eligibility.

\1\ Convention concerning the creation of an International Union
for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Sept. 9, 1886,
revised in 1908, 1928, 1948, 1967, 1971), hereinafter cited as the
Berne Convention.

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Works from any source country eligible under the URAA may be
subject to automatic copyright restoration. However, to be so restored,
a work must meet certain other requirements:

1. It is not in the public domain in its source country through
expiration of the term of protection;

2. It is in the public domain in the United States due to
noncompliance with formalities imposed at any time by United States
copyright law, lack of subject matter protection in the case of sound
recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, or lack of national
eligibility;

3. It has at least one author or rightholder who was, at the time
the work was created, a national or domiciliary of an eligible country;

4. If published, it was first published in an eligible country and
was not published in the United States during the 30-day period
following publication in such eligible country.

Notwithstanding the fact that the work meets the above
requirements, any work ever owned or administered by the Alien Property
Custodian and in which the restored copyright