U.S. copyright office stuck in a paper jam.

• Position: COPYRIGHT

A new electronic process is supposed to hasten the processing of copyright documents. Registering original material with the U.S. Copyright Office can take up to 18 months.

The slowdown, which has tripled the processing time for a copyright, may get worse before it gets better, according to The Washington Post.

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In the basement of the Library of Congress, The Post said, plastic boxes stuffed with envelopes have taken over hundreds of shelves and are spreading to ground- and fourth-floor space. The mountain of paper applications waiting to be processed, which total more than 523,000 currently, grow each day when the mail trucks deliver more.

The Copyright Office gets 10,000 applications each week, of which the staff can process about 7,000, according to The Post. Employees are now processing paper applications received in late 2007. It's enough to threaten the integrity of the entire U.S. copyright system, the library's inspector general said.

Ironically, the problem began with the office's new $52-million electronic system implemented in July 2008 to replace the old paper-based process. According to The Post, the electronic system is slow and often crashes. Exacerbating the situation is the fact...