TO: David O. Carson, General Counsel

MEMO

TO: David O. Carson, General Counsel

U.S. Copyright Office

Library of Congress

101 Independence Avenue, S.E.

Washington 20559-6000

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, USA

FROM: Paul Andrew Mitchell, B.A., M.S.

Author, Damaged Party and Plaintiff,

Mitchell v. AOL Time Warner, Inc. et al.

DCUS Sacramento #CIV. S-01-1480 WBS DAD PS

Ninth Circuit Appeal #02-15269

DATE: April 3, 2002 A.D.

SUBJECT: copyright registration issues

Greetings Mr. Carson:

Thank you for your letter dated March 29, 2002 A.D., faxed to us on April 1, 2002 A.D.

We do very much appreciate all the help that we have received to date from Larry “Skip” Schultz in your office. He has been courteous, professional, and considerate.

Please also appreciate that we were not aware that the Capitol Post Office was closed, until Skip informed us of this fact. Since then, we have resorted to faxing legal notices to you, in addition to mailing them via first class U.S. Mail.

One of the documents we faxed to you recently was the Table of Contents for our electronic copies of pleadings filed to date in the above entitled case. This should provide you with rapid Internet access to those pleadings, without needing to suffer long waits for U.S. mail to arrive.

We have also followed Skip’s verbal directions by shipping to the Copyright Office, via United Parcel Service last Monday, two (2) more Form TX applications, two (2) U.S. Postal Money Orders each for $30.00 ($60.00 total), and two (2) CD‑ROM’s for each of the electronic third and fourth editions of “The Federal Zone: Cracking the Code of Internal Revenue” (4 CD-ROM’s total).

At present, the case appears to be stuck on a rather simple point of law. The statute at 17 U.S.C. 408(b)(2) clearly states that the material deposited for registration shall include ... two complete copies of the best edition (not all or multiple editions).

Contrary to this statute, the U.S. Magistrate Judge wrote the following in his findings and recommendations:

In addition, the notice filed by plaintiff indicates that he deposited with the Copyright Office a copy of the “eleventh edition” of his book. While plaintiff’s complaint alleges infringement with respect to several editions of his book, particularly the third and fourth editions, it does not do so with respect to the eleventh edition. Accordingly, plaintiff’s application is deficient in that the edition of the book deposited for the purpose of obtaining registration is not an appropriate copy of the edition(s) placed at issue by plaintiff’s complaint. Thus, even if registration has occurred, it has occurred for the eleventh edition, not any of the editions which are the subject of this suit. See 17 U.S.C. 408(b)(2); Kodadek, 152 F.3d at 1212. Because plaintiff has not registered his copyright, the first cause of action must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

[FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS]

[filed December 31, 2001]

[Pages 7-8]

Because we believe that these FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS were adopted in error by U.S. District Judge William B. Shubb, we feel it is appropriate, at this time, to decline your request to withdraw our MOTION FOR ORDER ENJOINING FURTHER INACTION BY THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, executed on March 6, 2002 A.D. and submitted to the Ninth Circuit.

Without attempting to prejudice your position in any way, we feel it would be most appropriate for your office to file with the Ninth Circuit a statement clarifying the official view(s) of the Register of Copyrights with respect to section 408(b)(2), as applied to our case.

Specifically, we have no doubt that your written statement would be valuable to the Ninth Circuit in determining whether or not Judge Shubb made any errors in adopting the paragraph from the FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS quoted above.

Also, we would appreciate it if your position statement acknowledged the facts that I have now applied for registration of the electronic third and fourth editions as well (applications, deposits and fees), and that the Register has, to date, not refused any of my Form TX applications for registering any editions of the subject book.

Lastly, we think it would be a valuable courtesy to us if your position statement separately verified Certificate of Registration No. TX 5‑436‑561, effective 7/23/01. (I believe your letter erred in its second paragraph by citing No. TX 5‑536‑561 [sic].)

An effective date of July 23, 2001 A.D., will support our argument that the district court did have subject matter jurisdiction over our copyright infringement claims when we filed the Initial COMPLAINT on August 1, 2001 A.D.

Thank you, Mr. Carson, for your professional consideration.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell

Paul Andrew Mitchell

Private Attorney General

copy: Skip Schultz, U.S. Copyright Office, Washington, D.C.

Dr. John C. Alden, M.D., Oakland, California

Clerk of Court, DCUS Sacramento (2x)

parties (see PROOF OF SERVICE infra)

PROOF OF SERVICE

I, Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris, hereby certify, under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the United States of America, without the “United States” (federal government), that I am at least 18 years of age, a Citizen of ONE OF the United States of America, and that I personally served the following document(s):

MEMO TO GENERAL COUNSEL,

U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE

by placing one true and correct copy of said document(s) in first class United States Mail, with postage prepaid and properly addressed to the following:

Judge Alex Kozinski Clerk of Court (5x)

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Attention: Cathy Catterson

P.O. Box 91510 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Pasadena 91109-1510 P.O. Box 193939

CALIFORNIA, USA San Francisco 94119-3939

CALIFORNIA, USA

Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley DeForest & Koscelnik

(failed to exhibit oaths) (failed to exhibit oath)

1001 Marshall Street 3000 Koppers Building

Redwood City 94063 436 Seventh Avenue

CALIFORNIA, USA Pittsburgh 15219

PENNSYLVANIA, USA

Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP Pillsbury Winthrop LLP

(failed to exhibit oaths) (failed to exhibit oaths)

P.O. Box 1319 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 1700

Sacramento 95812-1319 Sacramento 95814-4419

CALIFORNIA, USA CALIFORNIA, USA

Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver

Kraemer & Sloan, LLP & Hedges, LLP

(failed to exhibit oaths) (failed to exhibit oaths)

727 Sansome Street 201 Sansome Street, 6th Floor

San Francisco 94111 San Francisco 94104

CALIFORNIA, USA CALIFORNIA, USA

Office of the General Counsel Paul Southworth

(failed to exhibit oaths) 2018 N. New Hampshire Ave.

University of California Los Angeles 90027

1111 Franklin Street, 8th Floor CALIFORNIA, USA

Oakland 94607-5200

CALIFORNIA, USA

Karl Kleinpaste Ram Samudrala

P.O. Box 1551 UW Micro Box 357242

Beaver Falls 15010 Seattle 98195-7242

PENNSYLVANIA, USA WASHINGTON STATE, USA

Laskin & Guenard Rivkin Radler, LLP

(failed to exhibit oath) (failed to exhibit oaths)

1810 South Street 1330 N. Dutton Ave., #200

Sacramento 95814 Santa Rosa 95401-4646

CALIFORNIA, USA CALIFORNIA, USA

Harvey Siskind Jacobs LLP Office of Solicitor General

(failed to exhibit oaths) 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.

3 Embarcadero Center, Ste. 1060 Room 5614

San Francisco 94111 Washington 20530-0001

CALIFORNIA, USA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, USA

Register of Copyrights Steinhart & Falconer LLP

Library of Congress (failed to exhibit oaths)

101 Independence Avenue, S.E. 333 Market Street, 32nd Floor

Washington 20559-6000 San Francisco 94105-2150

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, USA CALIFORNIA, USA

Matheny Sears Linkert & Long LLP

P.O. Box 13711

Sacramento 95853-4711

CALIFORNIA, USA

[Please see USPS Publication #221 for “addressing” instructions.]

Dated: April 3, 2002 A.D.

Signed: /s/ Paul Andrew Mitchell

__________________________________________________

Printed: Paul Andrew Mitchell, Appellant In Propria Persona