A Long Road to Copyright

Today’s Washington Post features a front-page story about a serious backlog at the U.S. Copyright Office (“© 2009? Wishful Thinking, Perhaps, as Backlog Mounts”—may require registration, but worth it to read the story’s last two paragraphs). Seems they started using a new electronic system to speed things up, and instead things have gone somewhat kerflunkity. If you have recently sent in a paper application for a copyright, you can expect to wait eighteen months before you actually hear anything. Electronic applications are taking six months to process instead of the usual one month.

Apparently the spiffy new system has some bugs that cause it to work slowly and crash often. (Sounds familiar—is it possible they are actually using my old computer?) Also, the workers need to be trained to use the system (this could not have been done before the system went “live,” apparently). Management and staff blame one another for the problems. Oh, and they also blame all those creative types who still insist on using paper (paper—have you ever heard of such a thing?) for their copyright applications.

But never fear, creative people! You can expedite the application process by paying a “special handling fee” of just $685. You’ve all got that exact sum just lying there in your bank account with nothing better to do, right? Yeah, I thought so.