Exemptions To Permit Circumvention of Access Controls on Copyrighted Works; Correction

Published

Nov 2, 2026

Citation

91 FR 68894

Docket

Docket No. 2026-4

Agencies

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, Copyright Office

Proposed rule; correction.

Summary

The Library of Congress, through its Copyright Office, issued a correction to a proposed rule that would update the list of exemptions allowing people to bypass digital lock‑outs on copyrighted material. The rule itself is meant to clarify and possibly expand circumstances—such as for education, research, preservation, or accessibility—where breaking an access control is legally permissible. The correction simply fixes a typographical mistake in the preamble that described a petition to renew an existing exemption; it does not change any of the substantive policy proposals. The proposed rule was originally published on October 28, 2026, and the correction appeared in the Federal Register on November 2, 2026 (91 FR 68894). Because the rule is still in the proposal stage, it has no effective date yet. The public comment period runs for 60 days from the original publication, so comments must be submitted by about December 27, 2026. After the comment deadline, the Copyright Office will review the feedback, potentially revise the language, and then issue a final rule that could become binding later. The regulation primarily concerns anyone who uses copyrighted works—libraries, educators, researchers, people with disabilities, and other users seeking lawful access—as well as copyright owners who may be affected by the expanded exemptions.

AI-generated summary — verify against the Federal Register text.

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