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U.S. Copyright Office countries sought to address it through varied legal approaches, Congress asked the Copyright Office to analyze the issue.

Ina letter dated May 3, 2021, Senators Leahy, Tillis, Cornyn, Hirono, Klobuchar, and Coons asked for a study of "ancillary copyright" protections for news publishers, such as have been established by the European Union, that would "require platform aggregators to pay publishers for excerpts of content they provide for others to view." The letter instructed the Office that:

"[t]his study should assess the viability of adding specific protections to U.S. copyright law similar to those now being implemented in Europe. Additionally, such a study should analyze what the appropriate scope of such a right should be and how that would coincide with existing rights such as those of underlying writers or visual artists as well as any existing rights held by publishers. Finally, the report should include a discussion of relevant exceptions such as "fair use" or "quotation" exceptions, and any international treaty implications."

On October 12, 2021, the Office published a notice of inquiry seeking public comment on questions related to the effectiveness of publishers’ existing rights in news content, the desirability and potential scope of additional protections, and how any new protections would interact with existing rights, exceptions and limitations, and international treaty obligations. The Office received approximately thirty responsive comments.

On November 9, 2021, the Office published a second notice of inquiry inviting the public to raise new issues related to the topic of the Study; amplify initial comments; present empirical studies; or address, reply to, or expand upon any issues raised in the initial request for written comments. The Office received seventeen additional comments.