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In the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Office invited interested
parties to submit written comments on the proposed regulations. The
Office received comments from the following parties: The Association of
American Publishers (AAP); Irwin Karp; Janine Lorente, for Societe des
Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD); Nancy McAleer, for Thomson
& Thomson; Bill Patry; David Pierce; Linda Shaughnessy, for AP Watt
Ltd. Literary Agents; Ellen Theg, for International Television Trading
Corp.; and Richard Wincor, of Coudert Brothers.

The Office notes that some of the comments received in response to
the NPRM had already been addressed, and some called for minor
clarifications that have been made to the final regulations. Other
comments, whether raised for the first or second time, raise
substantive issues that are discussed below.

B. Issues Related to Notices of Intent To Enforce

1. Formality

Ms. Shaughnessy stated that since copyright restoration is to occur
automatically, the procedures for filing NIEs are exceptionally
onerous. She asserted it should be sufficient to file one NIE for all
of the titles of one author. Ms. Shaughnessy illustrated her point by
noting that she will be filing for 73 authors, but there will be
hundreds of titles involved. Comment 3. Ms. Lorente asserted that the
NIE is a formality in violation of at least the spirit of Berne and
that because reliance parties are free to continue to exploit restored
works in the United States unless a NIE is filed, an author cannot
exercise his or her rights in the restored work automatically. Comment
5, at 1.

The Copyright Office again emphasizes that the restoration of
copyright in certain foreign works considered in the public domain in
the United States creates a conflict between reliance parties' and
copyright owners' legitimate concerns. Reliance parties have invested
capital and labor in the lawful exploitation of public domain property;
the sudden restoration of copyright divests them of these investments.
Without some provision addressing this potential loss, there could be
challenges based on the ``taking'' clause of the Fifth Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution. On the other hand, it is important that the United
States restore copyright protection in certain foreign works. The
United States arguably failed to conform its law fully to the Berne
Convention in 1989 when it declined to int