US Copyright fees will increase this week by up to six times the current cost
Mar 18, 2020
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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Photographers, if you register your work with the US Copyright Office, hurry up because the fees are about to increase. According to the official announcement, as of 20 March, you will pay more when you apply for copyright protection. And for some applications, the price is going to be up to six times higher than the current one.
The copyright office proposed these changes way back in 2018. The website copyright.gov lists current fees and notes that the changes will go into effect in two days. There’s also a page showing the changes between current and new fees so you can compare, and an average increase is 41%.
Some types of applications will not see a significant price increase, and some will remain the same. However, others will become as much as six times more expensive. For example, registration of “updates or revisions to a database that predominantly consists of non-photographic works” will go from $85 to 500. Here’s a part of the list so you can compare the prices, and the full list of new fees can be found here.
Even though your work is automatically protected by copyright, there are some benefits if you apply for registration with the US Copyright Office. However, with such a dramatic price increase, I wonder how many photographers will keep applying for copyright registration. What will you do?
[via The Phoblographer]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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5 responses to “US Copyright fees will increase this week by up to six times the current cost”
I’m wondering what are the benefits to pay for this?
In the US, you can not file a copyright infringement case without the
registration certificate in your hand. The US Supreme Court just reaffirmed that recently with a ruling.
Without a registration many infringers know they can tell you to just go away and you have no legal option. No registration, no legal action.
Plus with a timely registration you can get statutory damages with a willful infringement of up to $150,000 per infringement and lawyer fees. That usually scares infringers into a settlement. 98% of infringement cases are settled.
But again, no registration, no legal action threat, usually no settlement.
Why such an in crease? Is their an easier way to file a copyright and cheaper?
The ONLY way to register is at the Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. At http://www.copyright.gov (NOT .com, just .gov) And like I said, they did not increase the fee for photographs registered online. No other way, no other process, no other legal protection for your copyright.
The fee for published and unpublished photographs IS NOT changing. It remains $55 for 750 images, as it has been since Feb 2019. Shame on you, this is a bait click headline. There was a proposal to increase photo registration to $100, but that was rescinded. No increase for online registration of photos.