U.S. Copyright Office Seeks Public Comment on Proposed Adjustments to Fee Schedule
The Copyright Office is publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking requesting public comment on proposed changes to its fee schedule. Congress authorized the Register of Copyrights to set and adjust fees to cover the reasonable costs of the Office’s services, along with an inflation adjustment to reflect expected increases.
The Office reviews and adjusts its fees every several years. The last fee adjustment was in 2020 and was based on a study of costs from fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Since then, the cost of providing services has increased significantly because of inflation and other factors. The Office began internal work on this fee study in 2023 with a study of these costs, which is available on the Copyright Office Fee Study rulemaking webpage.
The Office is proposing the adjusted fee schedule described in the notice of proposed rulemaking. The proposed fees would allow the Office to recover a portion of its costs closer to the historical level of about 60 percent, while still keeping services accessible.
An advance public inspection notice has been posted today. The notice will appear in the Federal Register tomorrow, March 20, 2026. The notice, cost study, and instructions for submitting comments are available on the Copyright Office Fee Study rulemaking webpage. Written comments must be received by May 4, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. eastern time.
The Office plans to issue a separate notice of inquiry soon to gather public input on possible alternative fee structures for registration services, such as tiered fees or subscription options. These alternative structures will be considered for implementation once the new registration component of the Enterprise Copyright System is operational. Through the upcoming notice of inquiry, the Office will seek information to help assess how such structures might work and whether they could reduce or remove barriers to broader use of the registration system.
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