Washington Post article:
© 2009? Wishful Thinking, Perhaps, as Backlog Mounts
Quote:
The problem has tripled the processing time for a copyright from six to 18 months, and delays are expected to get worse in coming months. The library's inspector general has warned that the backlog threatens the integrity of the U.S. copyright system.
The irony is that the slowdown stems from a new $52 million electronic process that is supposed to speed the way writers and others register their literary, musical or visual work.
The delays do not appear to be hampering the business of the major publishing houses or those willing to spend $685 for a "special handling fee" that expedites registration. But the slowdown is frustrating hundreds of thousands of little-known people with big dreams. They paid $45 for the right to claim legal ownership of poems, fabric designs, plays, jingles, even computer manuals.
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Not directly ebook-related, I know. But it does connect to self-publishing, and has implications of additional problems in trying to track down what's lapsed--it sounds like the copyright office has no resources to spare to help sort out what's still covered and what's not.