U.S. Copyright Office
Library of Congress  

Copyright Office Fees 2012

arrow_nav Comment Submission
(Closes January 7, 2012)
arrow_nav Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(December 6, 2012)
arrow_nav Comments
(May 14, 2012)
arrow_nav Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(March 28, 2012)
arrow_nav Additional information on the new filing fees authorized under the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (STELA)
arrow_nav Notice of Inquiry
(January 24, 2012)

 

 

The Copyright Office is proposing the adoption of new fees for the registration of claims, recordation of documents, special services, Licensing Division services, and FOIA requests.  In setting fees, the Office is aware of its responsibility, like other Federal agencies, to establish sound financial policies and develop a budget derived largely from fees.  It is also mindful of its responsibilities to authors and other copyright owners to price services at a level that encourages participation in the registration and recordation process not only for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of licensees and other users of works of authorship as well as the public at large.  With these objectives in mind, the Office has proposed fees set to recover a significant part of the costs to the Office for services that benefit both copyright owners and the public. 

The Office is funded through a combination of fees for services (collected on a partial cost-recovery basis) and federal appropriations. The Office revisits its fee schedule approximately every three years in accordance with procedures specified in Title 17 U.S.C. § 708(b) and, this year, the House Appropriations Committee Report directed the Office to review the current fee structure and analyze whether registration fees cover the entire cost, including overhead, associated with the registration process.

In keeping with this timetable and the Congressional directive, the Office announced the initiation of its current fee study in the October 2011 Priorities and Special Projects document. As part of the study, the Office published an initial Notice of Inquiry on January 24 seeking comments from the public on two particular issues: (1) With respect to the basic registration fee, should special consideration be provided to individual author-claimants registering a single work, and (2) are there any special services and corresponding fees the Office should expand, improve or add to its offerings at this time, including, for example, additional expedited services and fee options. After review and analysis of the public comments and in conjunction with its stated objectives to price services at a level that encourages participation in the registration and recordation process and provides benefits for licensees and other users of works of authorship as well as the public at large, the Office published its proposed fee schedule for the registration of claims, recordation of documents, special services, Licensing Division services, and FOIA requests; and it invited comment from the public on the proposed fees. In response to this notice, the Office has received 140 comments.