U.S. Copyright Office announces fee changes to take effect on May 1, 2014 for registration of claims, recordation of documents, special services, licensing division services, and freedom of information act (FOIA) requests. Most of the changes are increases, however, there are a few fee decreases. The U.S. Copyright Office submitted the proposed fee changes to Congress on November 14, 2013 for review. As Congress did not act on the Copyright Office’s proposal within the 120 day deadline under 17 U.S.C. §708(b), the proposal is approved and the Copyright Office is moving forward with its implementation. For example, starting May 1st the fee for registration of a standard copyright application filed electronically will increase from $35 to $55 and paper filed applications will increase from $65 to $85. In addition, a new category is being added for registration of a standard copyright application filed by a single author for a single work, this cannot be a work made for hire, and this category will have a fee of $35 for electronic filing.
Additional fee changes are shown in the chart below and a full description of the fee changes may be found in the March 24, 2014 Federal Register Notice (See 79 Federal Register 15910-15920) which may be obtained from the US Copyright Office’s website at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/newfees/.
|
Services |
Old Fee |
Fee Effective May 1, 2014 |
|
Registration of a claim in a group of contributions to a periodical or database updates (Form GR/CP) |
$65 |
$85 |
|
Group registration of published photographs or registration of automated databases which predominately consist of photographs and updates thereto |
$35 |
$55 (electronic) $65 (paper) |
|
Registration of a claim in a mask work (Form MW) |
$105 |
$120 |
|
Registration of a claim in a vessel hull (Form D/VH) |
$220 |
$400 |
|
Registration of a claim in a restored copyright (Form GATT) |
$65 |
$85 |
|
Registration of a correction or amplification to a claim (Form CA) |
$100 |
$130 |
|
Renewal application |
$115 |
$100 |
|
Renewal addendum |
$220 |
$100 |
|
Recording of groups of up to ten additional titles associated with a recordation document (initial recordation fee remains $105) |
$30 |
$35 |
|
Issuance of additional certificate of registration |
$35 |
$40 |
|
Certification of other Office records, including search reports |
$165/hour |
$200/hour |
|
Reference search reports (other than Licensing Division reports) |
$165/hour |
$200/hour |
|
Estimate of search fee |
$115 |
$200 |
|
Retrieval of in-process or completed Copyright Office records or other materials |
$165/hour |
$200/hour |
|
Preregistration of certain unpublished works |
$115 |
$140 |
|
Additional names per group of 10 for recordation of a designation of an agent under Section 512(c)(2) (recordation fee remains $105) |
$30 |
$35 |
|
Special handling of registration claims |
$760 |
$800 |
|
Special handling of document recordation |
$480 |
$550 |
|
Special handling of search report |
$280/hour |
$300/hour |
|
Special handling of retrieval, certification, and copying requests |
$265/hour |
$305/hour |
|
Secure test processing |
$165/hour |
$250/hour |
|
Handling an extra deposit copy for certification |
$45 |
$50 |
|
Full-term retention of a published deposit |
$470 |
$540 |