Cost of Copyright Registration Goes Up
Photographers who register their work with the U.S. Copyright Office should prepare to fork over a few extra bucks beginning July 1.
The copyright office is raising the fees for registering single works and groups of photographs from $30 to $45. The cost of basic registration last went up in 1999.
The copyright office initially proposed raising the fee for groups of photos to $75, saying it costs more to process groups of photographs than other works. But after photographers protested, the office decided to keep the fee at the same price as the basic copyright registration fee.
The fee for having the copyright office staff conduct a records search is also going up - doubling from $75 to $150 per hour. And the office will begin charging $100 to provide an estimated search fee.
The fee for preregistration – a new type of registration that protects a creative work before it is completed – remains $100.
Creative works are automatically protected by copyright, but registering with the copyright office provides greater assurance of legal protection in case of infringement. Photo associations recommend that photographers register their most recent work with the copyright office on a regular basis.
The copyright office says it needs to raise fees to keep up with rising costs. More fee changes are expected next year when the copyright office makes it possible to register works online.
The complete list of fee changes is available at www.copyright.gov/reports/fees2006.html.