1107.6 (E) Volume, Number, Issue Date, and Date of Publication
As discussed in Section 1107.2, the applicant must include at least two issues in the group. The issues generally must be published at intervals of a week or longer. And the issues must be published within a three-month period within the same calendar year.
The group option may be used to register serials that are published every week, every two weeks, every month, or every other month. It also may be used if the publisher occasionally distributes multiple issues during the same week, such as when a “special” issue is published in addition to a regularly scheduled issue. However, this option cannot be used to register issues that are published on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis, or issues that are published in different years. See Group Registration of Serials, 83 Fed. Reg. 22,896, 22,898 n.7 (May 17, 2018).
The applicant should provide the volume, number, and issue date (if any) that appears on the copy of each issue in the group. In addition, the applicant should provide the date of publication (month, day, and year) for each issue.
To provide this information, the applicant should select “New” on the Title screen, enter the title and nation of publication in the fields provided, and then select “Save.” Next the applicant should select “New” and enter the publication date for the earliest issue in the group. The date that appears on that issue (if any) should be entered in the field marked “Issue Date.” If a volume number or other numerical designation appears on the issue, the applicant should provide that information in the fields marked “volume” and number.” The applicant should select “Save” and repeat this process for the rest of the issues in the group.
On occasion, a serial may be published in one month, but may contain an issue date for the following month, such as when an issue published in December contains an issue date for January of the following year. As a general rule, the registration specialist will accept a claim if the publication dates given in the application fall within a three month period within the same calendar year – ” even if they do not match the dates that appear on the deposit copies. See Group Registration of Serials, 83 Fed. Reg. 61,546, 61,547 (Nov. 30, 2018).
For a general discussion of publication issues, see Chapter 600, Section 612.