In two decisions issued October 23, 2026, the U.S. Copyright Office Review Board reversed refusals to register updates to NYP Holdings’ Page Six and Decider and Dow Jones’s Mansion Global under the Group Registration of Updates to a News Website (GRNW) option. The decisions apply the amended definition of “news website,” 91 Fed. Reg. 52239 (Aug. 13, 2026) (Docket No. 2026-5). They confirm that publications focused on celebrity, entertainment, television, and luxury real estate can qualify.
Adopted in July 2024 under 37 C.F.R. § 202.4(m), GRNW permits a publisher to register a calendar month of website updates through one application and filing fee. Each update is registered as a separate collective work. The deposit consists of identifying material, generally PDFs of the homepage for each day updates were published, rather than the site’s complete contents.
The original rule required “a broad range of news on all subjects and activities” “not limited to any specific subject matter,” and the Office initially refused the three claims on that basis. The August 2026 amendment eliminated the all-subjects requirement. A news website is now one “primarily designed to be a source of written information on current events, either local, national, or international in scope.”
A publication may filter its reporting through a subject-area lens, such as technology or entertainment, while covering a variety of subjects within that area. It must still primarily report current events and update frequently. The amendment took effect immediately because it removes a restriction and expands eligibility.
The practical significance is substantial. Under 17 U.S.C. § 411(a), registration generally is a prerequisite to an infringement action involving a U.S. work. Section 412 bars statutory damages and attorney’s fees for infringement commencing before registration, subject to the three-month post-publication exception. For publishers producing dozens of articles daily, GRNW offers a practical mechanism that may strengthen enforcement against scrapers, aggregators, and unauthorized AI training uses.
Sports, entertainment, culture, and trade publications should reassess their registration strategies. Eligibility is not automatic. The site must cover a variety of subjects within its area and satisfy the remaining GRNW requirements. The identifying material must show sufficiently original selection, coordination, or arrangement to support a compilation claim. Significantly, the Office examines the collective-work authorship, not the copyrightability or ownership of individual contributions.