News
US Copyright office raises registration fees
The United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees are intended to cover a significant portion of the costs to the Office of registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many other services provided by the Office. The proposed fee increase for pre-registration has been eliminated, and the proposed increase for group registration of photographs has been reduced to match the fee for basic registration ($45). Adjusted fees will be effective July 1, 2006.On March 28, 2006, the Copyright Office published a notice that most statutory fees were to be increased based on the findings from a cost study. The Office proposed that the basic registration filing fee be increased from $30 (established ibn 1999) to $45. The proposed increase did not reflect full cost recovery for the service provided, nor did the UC Copyright Office seek to recover its full cost.
Opposition to increased registration fees.
The Office received many comments, the vast majority from photographers and organizations representing photographers. The issues raised by those who submitted comments included the following:
- Opposition to raising the basic registration fee from $30 to $45.
The basic registration fee of $30 was set in 1999 when it was increased from $20 to $30. Although the Copyright Office made no further adjustment to the basic registration fee in 2002 when a number of other Copyright Office fees were adjusted, the commentators objected to the proposed increase in the basic registration fee. They maintained that the $45 fee was too high for creators running small businesses.
- Opposition to raising the fee for group registration of photographs.
Commentators objected to raising the fee for group registration of photographs to $75, asserting that the new fee represented a 150% increase from the previous $30 fee. One commentator suggested that the new fee would create a “Berlin wall” between photographers and the Copyright Office.
- Opposition to raising the preregistration fee.
Commentators objected to raising the preregistration fee from $100 to $150. It was argued that the $100 fee was put into place approximately 6 months ago, and since the registration system is electronic, costs should drop rather than increase.
- Opposition to increasing search fees from $75 to $150 an hour.
Photographers objected to increasing search fees of the Reference & Bibliography Section on the grounds that it would negatively impact policies with respect to Orphan Works.
Adjusted Fees [Effective July 1 2006]
With the exception of the proposed new fees for preregistration (staying at $100) and group registration of photographs (staying at $45 to match the basic registration fee), the Copyright Office has decided to adopt the adjusted fees as proposed. The Copyright Office is currently collecting 56.7% of its total expenditures from fees.
Click here for a list of the new fees. For more information contact:
Tanya M. Sandros, Associate General Counsel, or Kent Dunlap, Principal Legal Advisor for the General Counsel. P.O. Box 70400, Washington, DC 20024-0400, Telephone (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
Related stories:
ASMP lobbies copyright office for simplified registration (May 5, 2006)
Caricatures, orphan works, and the legacy of the Normans (April 25, 2006)
More on Orphan Works (March 24, 2006)
PACA and ASMP leading the charge on Orphan Works (March 3, 2006)
Posted in: Legal / Copyright, News, Photographers, Stock Photo Companies
