207 Special Handling
Special handling is a procedure for expediting the examination of an application to register a claim to copyright. There is an additional fee for this expedited service. For information concerning this fee, see the Office’s fee schedule.
The U.S. Copyright Office offers this service in certain circumstances where a copyright owner or other interested parties have a compelling reason for an expedited decision on a pending application. Special handling may be requested for an online application or a paper application in the following circumstances:
• Pending or prospective litigation;
• Customs matters; or
• Contract or publishing deadlines that necessitate the expedited issuance of a certificate of registration.
A request for special handling may be made when the claim is submitted to the Office or any time before the Office issues a certificate of registration or a refusal. Once it has received and approved a request for special handling, the Office will make every attempt to process the application within five business days, although the Office cannot guarantee that it will process all special handling applications within that time frame, particularly if the claims present issues requiring correspondence.
For detailed information on special handling, see Chapter 600, Section 623.