623.5 Procedure for Requesting Special Handling
To expedite an application to register a work, the applicant may send a written request to the U.S. Copyright Office online, in person, or by commercial carrier, courier, or mail. To expedite a document recordation, the remitter may send a written request to the Office in person, or by commercial carrier, courier, or mail. The procedures for each type of request are discussed in Sections 623.5 (A) through 623.5 (D).
The request may be made when the application or document is submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office or any time before the Office issues a certificate of registration, a certificate of recordation, or a refusal. In all cases, the Office will retain a copy of the request in the registration record or the recordation record.
When requesting special handling for a claim to copyright, the Office strongly encourages applicants to complete an online application and upload an electronic copy of the work if the work is eligible for submission in an electronic format. When submitting the deposit in a hard copy format, the Office strongly encourages applicants to deliver the deposit copy(ies) in person to ensure they are received in a timely manner and to minimize the risk of damage. For guidance in determining whether a work is eligible for submission in electronic format, see Chapter 1500, Section 1507.2. For information concerning the procedures for delivering deposit copy(ies) in person, see Chapter 1500, Section 1508.5.
If the Office subsequently registers the work, the registration specialist may add an annotation to the certificate of registration and the online public record indicating that the work was registered on an expedited basis. But the specialist will add this annotation only in cases where the request for special handling was submitted after the application, deposit copy(ies), and filing fee were received. For information concerning this procedure, see Section 623.5 (D).
By contrast, when the Office records a document on an expedited basis, the recordation specialist will not add an annotation to the certificate or the online public record for that document.