Copyright Office Fees

Published date19 February 2020
Citation85 FR 9374
Record Number2020-03268
SectionRules and Regulations
CourtCopyright Office,Library Of Congress
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 33 (Wednesday, February 19, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 33 (Wednesday, February 19, 2020)]
                [Rules and Regulations]
                [Pages 9374-9388]
                From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
                [FR Doc No: 2020-03268]
                [[Page 9374]]
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                LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
                 Copyright Office
                37 CFR Part 201
                [Docket No. 2018-04]
                Copyright Office Fees
                AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
                ACTION: Final rule.
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                SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is publishing a final rule establishing
                adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees will recover a
                significant portion of the costs to the Office of registering copyright
                claims and provide greater cost recovery for certain other services
                provided by the Office. The new fee schedule reflects some increased
                and decreased fees, as well as some fees that the Office determined did
                not require adjustment. For example, under the new fee structure, the
                online Standard Application registration fee will increase from $55 to
                $65; the fee to register a group of published or unpublished
                photographs, however, will remain at $55. In addition to fees for
                registration and recordation, this final rule establishes adjusted fees
                for special services and Licensing Division services.
                DATES: Effective March 20, 2020.
                FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regan A. Smith, General Counsel and
                Associate Register of Copyrights, by email at copyright.gov">[email protected]copyright.gov;
                Chris Weston, Senior Counsel, by email at copyright.gov">[email protected]copyright.gov; or Jalyce
                E. Mangum, Attorney-Advisor, by email at copyright.gov">[email protected]copyright.gov. They can
                be reached by telephone at 202-707-8350.
                SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
                I. Background
                 This final rule adjusts Copyright Office fees in accordance with
                section 708 of title 17, United States Code (the ``Copyright Act'' or
                ``Act''). The Copyright Act requires that the Office charge fees for
                certain services.\1\ Pursuant to the Act, the Register of Copyrights
                may adjust the Office's fees based on a study of its costs for
                administering the registration of claims, the recordation of documents,
                and the provision of other services.\2\ Since 1997, the Copyright
                Office has undertaken a series of studies to determine what fees to
                charge for specific services.\3\ The Copyright Office revisits its
                schedule approximately every three to five years to conduct an analysis
                of its fees, and adjusts those fees to take into account changing costs
                and work processes. During this analysis, the Office seeks and
                considers public comment before finalizing a schedule of adjusted
                fees.\4\ The Office last adjusted its fees in 2014.\5\
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                 \1\ See 17 U.S.C. 708. The Office also provides other services
                free to the public, such as access to the online public record,
                educational materials, and authoritative guidance on the Office's
                practices through the Compendium.
                 \2\ See 17 U.S.C. 708(b).
                 \3\ In 1997, Congress created a new fee system allowing the
                Copyright Office to set all of its fees by regulation rather than in
                the statute. An Act to make technical amendments to certain
                provisions of title 17, United States Code, Public Law 105-80, 111
                Stat. 1529 (1997). Before then, Congress itself set the fees for
                certain basic copyright services, including registration and
                recordation (often referred to as ``statutory fees'') and the
                Register set the fees for other special services by regulation. In
                enacting statutory copyright fees, Congress considered a number of
                criteria, including the cost of providing the service, the value of
                the service to the Library of Congress, and the benefit of the
                service to the general public.
                 \4\ See 17 U.S.C. 708 (establishing Register of Copyrights'
                authority to set fees, as well as fee setting standards).
                 \5\ See Final Rule: Copyright Office Fees: Registration,
                Recordation and Related Services; Special Services; Licensing
                Division Services; FOIA Services, 79 FR 15910 (Mar. 24, 2014).
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                 Section 708(a) of the Act specifies that ``[f]ees shall be paid to
                the Register of Copyrights'' for the following services:
                 (1) Filing an application under section 408 for registration of a
                copyright claim or for a supplementary registration, including the
                issuance of a certificate of registration if registration is made;
                 (2) Filing an application for registration of a claim for renewal
                of a subsisting copyright, including the issuance of a certificate of
                registration if registration is made;
                 (3) Issuing a receipt for a deposit under section 407;
                 (4) Recording a transfer of copyright ownership or other document;
                 (5) Filing a notice of intention to obtain a compulsory license
                under section 115(b);
                 (6) Recording a statement revealing the identity of an author of an
                anonymous or pseudonymous work, or recording a statement relating to
                the death of an author;
                 (7) Issuing an additional certificate of registration;
                 (8) Issuing any other certification;
                 (9) Making and reporting of a search, and any related services;
                 (10) Filing a statement of account based on secondary transmissions
                of primary transmissions pursuant to sections 119 and 122; and
                 (11) Filing a statement of account based on secondary transmissions
                of primary transmissions pursuant to section 111.
                 In addition, section 708(a) authorizes the Register to fix fees for
                other services, such as the cost of preparing copies of Office records.
                 Section 708 contemplates two different mechanisms for setting the
                above fees. Fees for the services described in section 708(a)(1)
                through (9)--which include the Office's registration and recordation
                functions and thus promote essential public policy objectives--must be
                outlined in a proposed schedule that is sent to Congress 120 days
                before the adjusted fees can take effect.\6\ Other fees, including
                those for filing cable and satellite statements of account under
                sections 708(a)(10) and (11) and additional Office services, are not
                submitted to Congress but instead are established by the Register based
                on the Office's costs, following a notice-and-comment rulemaking
                process.\7\
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                 \6\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(5). The Register submitted the proposed
                schedule and analysis to Congress on October 16, 2019. U.S.
                Copyright Office, Proposed Schedule and Analysis of Copyright Fees
                to Go into Effect in Spring 2020 (2019) (``Fee Study''), https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/feestudy2018/proposed-fee-schedule.pdf.
                If Congress does not enact a law disapproving the proposed schedule,
                the Register may institute the proposed fees. 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(5).
                 \7\ Id. at 708(a).
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                 Before proposing adjusted fees for the services enumerated in
                sections 708(a)(1) through (9), the Register must conduct a study of
                the Office's costs for registering claims, recording documents, and
                providing other services, and must consider the timing of any fee
                adjustments and the Office's authority to use the fees consistent with
                the Office's budget.\8\ Section 708(b) further provides that the
                Register may adjust these fees to ``not more than necessary to cover
                the reasonable costs incurred by the Copyright Office for . . . [such
                services], plus a reasonable inflation adjustment to account for any
                estimated increase in costs.'' \9\ Finally, section 708(b) mandates
                that the ``[f]ees established . . . shall be fair and equitable and
                give due consideration to the objectives of the copyright system.''
                \10\
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                 \8\ Id. at 708(b)(1).
                 \9\ Id. at 708(b)(2).
                 \10\ Id. at 708(b)(4).
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                 The Office initiated its most recent fee study in 2017 by
                contracting with an outside consultant to analyze the Copyright
                Office's current and expected future costs.\11\ In conducting the
                Office's cost study, the outside consultant used an activity-based
                costing (``ABC'') model in line with industry best practices and
                recommendations from the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board's
                [[Page 9375]]
                (``FASAB's'') guidelines for determining the full cost of federal
                agency program activities \12\ and the Government Finance Officers
                Association's guidance regarding costing guidelines and establishing
                user fees.\13\ Working with the Office, the outside consultant
                calculated how much each service costs the Office to provide after
                reviewing both the direct and indirect costs in fiscal 2016 and salary
                data in fiscal 2017.\14\ This cost assessment process included
                anticipated expenses associated with the Office's ongoing information
                technology and business process modernization efforts, which was then
                estimated to be $70 million \15\ and later updated in the Office's 2019
                congressional budget request to reflect a more refined estimate of $61
                million.\16\
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                 \11\ Id. at 708(b)(2); see Booz Allen Hamilton, 2017 Fee Study
                Report (2017) (``Booz Allen Study''), https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/feestudy2018/fee_study_report.pdf.
                 \12\ This includes FASAB's Managerial Cost Accounting Concepts
                and Standards, which promotes activity-based costing for calculating
                the cost of providing services. See FASAB, Statement of Federal
                Finance Accounting Standards 4: Managerial Cost Accounting Standards
                and Concepts (June 2017), http://files.fasab.gov/pdffiles/handbook_sffas_4.pdf.
                 \13\ See Gov't Fin. Officers Ass'n, Establishing Government
                Charges and Fees (Feb. 2014), http://www.gfoa.org/establishing-government-charges-and-fees.
                 \14\ The Copyright Office's cost calculations concerning the
                services and fees enumerated in sections 708(a)(1) through (9) are
                set forth in Fee Study, Appendix B: Summary of Costs and Fees under
                17 U.S.C. 708(b), https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/feestudy2018/proposed-fee-schedule.pdf.
                 \15\ See Booz Allen Study at 7, 23.
                 \16\ See Statement of Karyn Temple, Acting Register of
                Copyrights, Before the Subcomm. on Legislative Branch Appropriations
                of the S. Comm. on Appropriations, at 3-5 (May 8, 2018), https://www.copyright.gov/about/budget/2019/senate-budget-testimony-fy19.pdf.
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                 Using these cost determinations as a starting point, the outside
                consultant considered the other statutory fee-setting factors,
                including changes in costs due to inflation and the price elasticity of
                demand for the Copyright Office's services. Price elasticity measures
                how demand for a service fluctuates in response to a change in price. A
                service is elastic, or sensitive to price changes, if a small change in
                price is followed by a large fluctuation in demand. A service is
                inelastic if it is not responsive to price changes. As the consultant
                noted, ``[t]he vast majority of the Copyright Office's revenue, 85%, is
                generated from fees deemed elastic.'' \17\ The consultant found an
                elasticity measure of -0.32 for the Copyright Office's primary
                services, including registration and recordation, using data on
                copyright registration volume, fee revenue, and fee changes from 1986
                to 2018, and validated the resulting figures by referencing economic
                literature, econometric studies of European trademarks, and the fee
                setting report of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.\18\
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                 \17\ Booz Allen Study at 8.
                 \18\ Id. at 9-10.
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                 Using this validated measure of elasticity, the consultant
                concluded that the goal of full-cost recovery was ``impossible to
                achieve'' \19\ and, instead, calculated that the maximum obtainable
                cost recovery for all Copyright Office services was 70.4%, with an
                annual revenue of $47,735,256.\20\ Achieving this rate of cost
                recovery, however, would be significantly detrimental to the public
                record and overall public interest--it would cause a 25% drop in use of
                Copyright Office services, including registration and recordation.\21\
                Thus, in establishing a fee schedule, the targeted cost recovery rate
                in the consultant's study was set at 60% for all costs and included
                modernization costs at 50% for each fee based on volume, reflecting the
                Copyright Office's conclusion, following solicitation of public
                comments, that copyright IT modernization should not be fully fee-
                funded.\22\
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                 \19\ Booz Allen Hamilton, Fee Study, Questions and Answers 2-3
                (2017) (``Booz Allen Q&A'').
                 \20\ Id. at 3.
                 \21\ Id.
                 \22\ Id. at 7.
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                 The consultant provided an initial proposed fee schedule as well as
                a fee-modeling tool that the Copyright Office could use to adjust the
                consultant's initial proposed fee schedule to ensure the proposed fees
                furthered the broad policy objectives of the copyright system.\23\
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                 \23\ See 17 U.S.C. 708 (``Fees established under this subsection
                shall be fair and equitable and give due consideration to the
                objectives of the copyright system''); Booz Allen Study at 7-17.
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                 After evaluating and adjusting the consultant's schedule,\24\ the
                Office published a proposed fee schedule in a Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking (``NPRM'') on May 24, 2018, and also posted the consultant's
                study on the copyright.gov website at that time. The Office sought
                public comment on this schedule in part pursuant to the House Committee
                on Appropriations' request that the Office report on funding strategies
                ``based on the comments received from the public regarding changes in
                fee structures.'' \25\ The NPRM analyzed potential changes to fees
                under section 708(a)(1)-(9) to ensure that they are ``fair and
                equitable and give due consideration to the objectives of the copyright
                system,'' as required by the statute.\26\ The proposed fees were
                directed at creating a fee schedule that supports the Office's policy
                goal of promoting creativity and protecting creators' rights while
                remaining a prudent fiduciary of public funds.\27\
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                 \24\ The Copyright Office focused its evaluation on fairness,
                equity, the objectives of the Copyright Act, the Copyright Office's
                policy goals, and general guidance from the Government
                Accountability Office and the Office of Management and Budget's
                Circular No. A-25 Revised: User Charges. See U.S. Gov't
                Accountability Office, Federal User Fees: A Design Guide (May 2008),
                https://www.gao.gov/assets/210/203357.pdf; Office of Mgmt. & Budget,
                Circular No. A-25 Revised (2017), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Circular-025.pdf. Among other things,
                Circular No. A-25 Revised provides that services with a broad-
                reaching benefit generally need not recover their full costs,
                whereas special services, that is, those that provide a particular
                benefit to a particular customer, may recover more than their full
                cost. The excess revenue collected from special services fees can
                offset losses accruing from other fees that may not recover their
                full cost.
                 \25\ 163 Cong. Rec. H4033 (daily ed. May 3, 2017) (explanatory
                statement submitted by Rep. Frelinghuysen, Chairman, H. Comm. on
                Appropriations), https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2017/5/3/house-section/article/H3949-2; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:
                Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR 24054 (May 24, 2018).
                 \26\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(4).
                 \27\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees,
                83 FR at 24056-57.
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                 In the NPRM, the Office proposed an average fee increase of 41% to
                account for inflationary increases and the expected cost of information
                technology modernization over the next several years, and to more fully
                recover the costs of registration and recordation.\28\ While this was
                the average of proposed fee adjustments, all fees were analyzed on an
                individual basis, and some proposed fees increased at a lower rate,
                stayed the same, or even decreased, based on the principles established
                in the Office's methodology. For example, the Office proposed to
                continue to offer both paper and electronic registration forms for
                Standard Application claims and to continue to charge a higher fee for
                paper forms, which are less efficient than electronic forms for both
                the Office and applicants.\29\ The Office also proposed to continue
                offering a discounted registration fee for individual authors who file
                an online application for a single work that is not a work made for
                hire.\30\
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                 \28\ See id. at 24056-57.
                 \29\ See id. at 24057.
                 \30\ See id. (electronic Single Application option).
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                 The NPRM proposed the following fees for basic registration claims:
                $125 for paper applications (up from $85); $75 for electronic claims
                submitted on the Standard Application (up from $55); and $55 for
                electronic claims submitted on the Single Application (up from
                $35).\31\ Even with those initially-proposed increases, the Copyright
                Office would not fully recover its costs to process these applications,
                which are
                [[Page 9376]]
                $89 for the Standard Application and $84 for the Single
                Application.\32\
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                 \31\ See id. at 24057.
                 \32\ In the NPRM these costs were $90 and $86, respectively. The
                changes resulted from the revised, lower estimated cost of
                modernization compared to the estimates used in the fee model at the
                time of the NPRM. All subsequent estimated costs of service in this
                final rule represent the revised, lower estimated cost of
                modernization.
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                 The NPRM also proposed somewhat higher fees for other group
                registration options in according with the cost assessment, including
                fees for group registration of newsletters or newspapers, and for group
                registration of unpublished works.\33\ And specifically, the NPRM
                proposed raising to $100 the fees applicable to group registrations of
                published and unpublished photographs, an option that allows an
                applicant to gain individual copyright registration for up to 750
                photographs for one price.\34\
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                 \33\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR
                at 24059. Since the NPRM, the Copyright Office has adopted new group
                registration option for unpublished works. Previously, the Office
                had registered an ``unpublished collection'' of works submitted on
                the Standard Application as an accommodation. See Final Rule: Group
                Registration of Unpublished Works, 84 FR 3693 (Feb. 13, 2019).
                 \34\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees,
                83 FR at 24057-58.
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                 The Office also proposed adjusting fees for recordation services,
                including raising the basic recordation fee for paper filings from $105
                to $125, and the fee for each additional ten titles recorded from $35
                to $60.\35\ The Office suggested these increases because, on the whole,
                it has not approached cost recovery for processing recordation
                submissions in recent years.\36\ The Office further recommended a new,
                lower fee for electronic submissions to record documents of $95, in
                anticipation of the development of a new electronic recordation system
                at some point during the period that the new fee schedule is in place.
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                 \35\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR
                at 24061.
                 \36\ Id.
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                 On June 21, 2019, the Office issued a supplemental NPRM (``June
                2019 NPRM'') proposing limited revisions to the NPRM relating to
                document recordation and new prospective group registration
                options.\37\ To better distribute costs among remitters based on the
                size of a recordation filing, the June 2019 NPRM proposed adjusting
                document recordation fees by changing the calculation formula from one
                based solely on the number of recorded titles to one based on the
                number of works and alternate titles and registration numbers to which
                a document pertains.\38\ For its newly proposed group registration
                options for short online literary works and for works contained on an
                album of music, the June 2019 NPRM also announced the Office's
                intention to issue filing fees equal to the fee proposed for other
                claims submitted on the Standard Application when concluding
                rulemakings establishing those new group registration options.\39\
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                 \37\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees, 84 FR
                29135 (Jun. 21, 2019).
                 \38\ Id. at 29136-37.
                 \39\ Id. at 29137-38.
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                 The Office received approximately 164 comments from a variety of
                interested parties in response to the two NPRMs, raising a range of
                issues that are discussed further below.\40\ After carefully
                considering each comment, on October 16, 2019, the Office submitted a
                proposed fee schedule to Congress (``Fee Study''), concerning those
                fees authorized by section 708(a)(1)-(9), including registration and
                recordation.\41\ For the reasons explained in the Fee Study, also noted
                below, the Office made several adjustments to the fees proposed in the
                NPRM to reasonably take into account the range of public comments
                received. Now that 120 days have elapsed without Congress enacting a
                law disapproving the proposed fee schedule, the adjusted fee proposals
                that were presented to Congress are now adopted in this final rule.
                This final rule also sets forth fees for other additional Office
                services that the Acting Register is authorized to establish through
                her rulemaking authority without the need to submit them to
                Congress.\42\
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                 \40\ The comments can be viewed through the Copyright Office
                website at https://www.copyright.gov/rulemaking/feestudy2018/.
                 \41\ Fee Study at 24.
                 \42\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(5).
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                II. Adjustments to Proposed Fees
                 Having considered the public comments in light of its statutory
                duty to establish fees that are fair, equitable, and serve the
                objectives of the overall copyright system, the Copyright Office has
                further adjusted the fees it now establishes in this final rule. For
                the reasons explained below, the Office has determined that it is
                appropriate to further adjust certain fees to address concerns raised
                by commenters in the NPRM.
                A. Consideration of Public Comments
                 The majority of commenters expressed general concern about the
                proposed fee increases to basic registrations.\43\ For example, the
                Copyright Alliance argued that ``significant fee increases that precede
                added value will have considerable adverse effects on the filing of
                registration applications by creators.'' \44\ Likewise, the American
                Intellectual Property Law Association contended that ``the costs
                attributable to [filing of the Standard Application] may be overstated
                and the increase, following a $20 increase in 2014, may cause a greater
                reduction in filings than the Office anticipated.'' \45\
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                Similarly, others contended that the proposed adjusted fees would
                especially burden individual creators and small entities with limited
                resources.\46\
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                 \43\ See, e.g., Association of American Publishers, Comments
                Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018,
                Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 3 (Sept. 18, 2018) (``AAP
                Comments'') (``Under the proposed schedule, the online standard
                registration application fee more than doubles in just six
                years.''); Graphic Artists Guild (``GAG''), American Photographic
                Artists (``APA''), and American Society for Collective Rights
                Licensing (``ASCRL''), Comments Submitted in Response to U.S.
                Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1
                (Sept. 21, 2018) (``GAG/APA/ASCRL Comments'') (``Raising
                registration fees as wages remain stagnant will deter
                registrations.''); Shaftel & Schmelzer Comments at 14 (``Shaftel &
                Schmelzer Comments'') (``Decreasing registration of creative works
                negatively impacts not only the Copyright Office's revenue, but even
                more importantly it negatively impacts the number of works in the
                public record, which serves all Americans and American industries,
                and this runs counter to the mission of the Copyright Office.'');
                Big Deal Music Group (``BDMG''), Comments Submitted in Response to
                U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
                at 1 (Sept. 21, 2018) (``BDMG Comments'') (``raising the fee for a
                PA Form from $55 to $75 to register a single work will deter the
                public from registering its works and maintaining the public
                record.'').
                 \44\ Copyright Alliance, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S.
                Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 6
                (Sept. 21, 2018) (``Copyright Alliance Comments'').
                 \45\ American Intellectual Property Law Association, Comments
                Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018,
                Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 5 (Sept. 21, 2018) (``AIPLA
                Comments'').
                 \46\ See, e.g., Barbara Svatek, Comments Submitted in Response
                to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking at 1 (July 21, 2018) (arguing that proposed fees would
                ``create a hardship on citizens, and discriminate against lower
                income bracket persons)''; American Association of Independent
                Music, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's May
                24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1 (Sept. 19, 2018)
                (``A2IM Comments'') (``Any further increase in user fees, will
                negatively affect the small and medium sized enterprises that A2IM
                represents . . . .''); Lane Wooder, Comments Submitted in Response
                to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking at 1 (Sept. 21, 2018); Chris Campbell, Comments Submitted
                in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of
                Proposed Rulemaking at 1 (Jun. 5, 2018).
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                 In some cases, commenters also objected to the proposed increases
                for certain group registration options.\47\ While comments were
                received regarding multiple group registration options, in particular,
                commenters objected to proposed increases in group registration rates
                for published and unpublished photographs, contending that an 82%
                increase ``disproportionately burdens small photographers.'' \48\ The
                Office also received a number of comments questioning the proposed
                increased fee for expedited processing of qualified claims from $800 to
                $1,000 and requesting relief from the new fee in cases of imminent
                litigation.\49\
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                 \47\ See Regina Williams, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S.
                Copyright Office's June 21, 2019, Supplemental Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking at 1 (July 22, 2019) (asserting that ``10 works per
                submission at $55 per group rate for 50 poems[ ], is outlandish'');
                NMPA, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's June
                21, 2019, Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1-3 (July
                22, 2019) (``NMPA Supplemental Comments'') (``While we appreciate
                the Office's steps to mitigate this problem by creating a group
                registration option for musical works on an album, the benefit of
                the [group registration of works on an album of music (``GRAM'')]
                option will be reduced if the Standard Application fees and GRAM
                registration fees are raised to $75.'').
                 \48\ PPA, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright
                Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 3-4 (Sept.
                21, 2018) (``PPA Comments''); see also Duane Bellinger, Comments
                Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's June 21, 2019,
                Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1 (June 5, 2018) (``An
                82% price increase on group submissions is egregious and prohibitive
                for many working photographers and creatives who may make dozens of
                these block submissions in a single year.'').
                 \49\ See AIPLA, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright
                Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 6-7 (Sept.
                19, 2018) (noting in response to a proposed fee increase that
                ``[g]iven the amount of time normal processing can take . . . and
                the looming question before the Supreme Court in Fourth Estate
                Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com . . . regarding whether a
                decision by the [Copyright] Office on a registration application is
                required before filing suit, this proposed increase seems
                unnecessary or perhaps should be tabled by the Office pending the
                Supreme Court's decision.''); NMPA Comments Submitted in Response to
                U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
                at 15 (Sept. 21, 2018) (``NMPA Comments'') (``The increase in
                special handling fees in particular will increasingly make copyright
                enforcement a privilege rather than a right.'').
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                 In addition, a wide variety of commenters specifically challenged
                the Copyright Office's proposal to increase certain fees to partially
                fund IT modernization.\50\ As noted in the Fee Study, those objections
                generally centered around three themes. First, commenters argued that
                modernization costs, as a ``one-time capital investment,'' are ``not
                appropriate to pass . . . onto the Office's `customers.' '' \51\
                Specifically, A2IM noted that ``the inclusion of non-recurring costs in
                the [outside consultant's] analysis has the effect of artificially
                inflating the fee estimates that underlie the current proposal.'' \52\
                Second, commenters contended that ``more appropriated dollars are in
                order to fund the Copyright Office's IT modernization.'' \53\ In AAP's
                view, ``[since] the Library of Congress has effectively taken control
                over the Copyright Office's IT Modernization under the Modified Plan,''
                modernization costs should be funded by ``a higher contribution from
                the Library of Congress' appropriated dollars,'' and not higher
                fees.\54\ Similarly, the Coalition of Visual Artists argued that
                ``Congress and the American taxpayers should provide the appropriations
                needed to fund modernization rather than place that burden on the backs
                of small creators who are already struggling under the cost and
                complexity of the existing copyright system.'' \55\ Third, commenters
                noted that ``[s]ince IT modernization will increase efficiency and
                decrease long-term costs, any cost study associated with the fee
                increase should take into account the improved efficiencies and cost
                savings expected with a future IT modernization.'' \56\
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                 \50\ See A2IM Comments at 5-6 (``The calculation of costs
                associated with each service should exclude the Copyright Office's
                share of the Library's IT Modernization Plan.''); AAP Comments at 2-
                13 (``The Copyright Office should especially reconsider its
                determinations regarding . . . the use of fees to fund the Modified
                IT Plan insofar as certain aspects will primarily benefit services
                and activities of the Library of Congress that are virtually
                unrelated to implementing the Copyright Act.''); Coalition of Visual
                Artists (``CVA''), Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright
                Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 7-9 (Sept.
                21, 2018) (``CVA Comments'') (arguing that modernization should be
                funded through yearly appropriations, not user fees); NMPA Comments
                at 4-5 (``[C]reators should not bear the burden of increased fees to
                modernize the [Copyright] Office's IT system as the Office
                proposes.'').
                 \51\ A2IM Comments at 5.
                 \52\ Id. at 6.
                 \53\ AAP Comments at 6.
                 \54\ Id. at 7.
                 \55\ CVA Comments at 8.
                 \56\ Copyright Alliance Comments at 13.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                B. The Fee Study's Updates to Proposed Fees
                 As documented in the Fee Study as well as in this notice, the
                Office carefully considered each of these comments, including to ensure
                that adjustments to the Office's fee schedule would be fair, equitable,
                and reflect due consideration of the objectives of the copyright
                system. Specifically, the Office further considered the projected
                effect the proposed fee increases might have on use of these basic
                Office's services. As indicated in the outside consultant's study,
                demand for a majority of the Office's services is price elastic, and
                demand is reduced whenever fees are increased. While external factors,
                such as the overall national economic health, also influence filing
                volume, there is a demonstrated inverse relationship between an
                increase in fees and the number of claims filed. As fees increase, the
                number of applications decreases, at least initially.\57\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \57\ See Booz Allen Study at 8-10.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 When considering the issue of price elasticity, the Office found it
                instructive to compare Copyright Office fees to those of its closest
                sister agency, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'').
                Copyright Office fees are modest in relation to fees charged by USPTO
                because Copyright Office fees must take into account the voluntary
                nature of registration and recordation. In contrast, USPTO initial and
                maintenance patent filing fees are higher in reflection of the fact
                that patent rights vest only after USPTO action in a way that isn't
                true for copyright; federal trademark registration, similarly, conveys
                a legal presumption of ownership nationwide.
                 Registration filing and document recordation generate well over 90%
                of the Copyright Office's fee receipts and are particularly vulnerable
                to a decline in demand in response to increased fees. For example, in
                the months following a fee increase in 2007, registration filings
                dropped by 8.9%, and then increased by 3.7% the following year.\58\
                Therefore, the Copyright Office expects a short-term decrease in
                filings with the introduction of increased fees, which should lessen as
                filers adjust to new fees. Recognizing this fact, the Copyright Office
                must set fees such that
                [[Page 9378]]
                each new fee recovers a reasonable percentage of the cost of processing
                the claim, but does not result in a more permanent disincentive to
                register works and a long-term decrease in fee receipts.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \58\ Percentages are based on Copyright Office data from FY
                2006, FY 2007, and FY 2008.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 As explained in the Fee Study, the elastic nature of Copyright
                Office fees also affects how its fees should be set to fund
                modernization activities. In light of the unique, comprehensive
                modernization effort and the significant concern over modernization
                costs raised by public comments, the Copyright Office is adjusting its
                proposed increases. As a general matter, of course, it is permissible
                for user fees to fund capital expenditures and ongoing system
                maintenance. However, the Office took note of the comments received by
                some stakeholders regarding the effect of concurrently supporting both
                an existing and a future IT system partially through fees.\59\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \59\ See generally Shaftel & Schmelzer Comments at 9 (``We are
                being asked to pay more for the established inefficient registration
                application processing methods.'').
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Therefore, as reflected in the Fee Study, the Office has reduced
                the fee increases for certain in-demand services to lessen the impact
                on small, high-volume creators and encourage participation in other
                common or highly elastic registration services.\60\ These decreases
                from the fees proposed for the Single Application and electronic
                Standard Application, as well as the group photograph and contributions
                to periodicals applications, effectively offset the impact of
                modernization costs for these fees. While all fees can be used for
                Copyright Office expenses, which include modernization, the Copyright
                Office has reduced its targeted cost recovery in these cases to lessen
                the burden of modernization costs.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \60\ See Fee Study at 19.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office also considered the fiscal and administrative impact of
                the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (``MMA''). In
                accordance with the MMA, the Office no longer accepts section 115
                notices of intention to obtain a compulsory license for making a
                digital phonorecord delivery of a musical work. In fiscal 2019, that
                change reduced amounts available for operations by $4.2 million. The
                MMA also directs the Office to engage in a number of new regulatory,
                administrative, and educational outreach tasks to implement this
                historic change to the copyright laws. The Office is not attempting to
                recoup any loss due to MMA through fees because doing so would increase
                fees beyond those proposed in the NPRM, potentially significantly
                reducing the number of filings, and thus undermining the copyright
                system overall. The Office is requesting increased appropriations to
                cover this shortfall amount.
                 Still, in adjusting fees, the Office must ensure that fee receipts
                are sufficient to anticipate the requisite level of Office operations,
                taking into account fluctuations in filing volumes, whether brought on
                by increased fees and/or other economic factors in the marketplace.
                While much of the anticipated costs associated with modernization will
                be covered through taxpayer-funded appropriations, the remainder is
                expected to be funded by fees collected in current and prior years. The
                Office considered these factors, along with stakeholder comments, in
                developing its fee schedule.
                III. Final Regulation
                 Based on its study, the Office has determined that some fees should
                increase, some should decrease, and some should remain the same.
                A. Registration, Recordation, and Related Services
                1. Basic and Group Registrations
                 While voluntary, registration offers substantial benefits to the
                registrant and to the public. For this reason, fees must be affordable
                so that individual creators are not discouraged from registering their
                works.
                 In adjusting its registration fees, the Copyright Office sought to
                address two issues in particular. First, for the reasons noted above,
                the Copyright Office has reduced the amount of amortized IT
                modernization costs included in the cost assessment to reflect the
                Copyright Office's position that modernization costs should not be
                recovered solely through user fees. Second, as noted below, the
                Copyright Office noted the particular challenges faced by
                photographers, who expressed significant concern about the impact of
                fees on their ability to protect their works, especially in light of
                recent regulatory changes that have improved efficiency of the process
                for registering claims for group registration of photographs.
                i. Basic Registrations
                 The Copyright Office adopts the following registration fees:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related Current fees
                 services: Basic registrations ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Registration of a claim in an original
                 work of authorship:
                 Electronic filing:
                 Single author, same claimant, 35 45
                 one work, not for hire.........
                 All other filings............... 55 65
                 Paper Filing (Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, 85 125
                 SE, SR)............................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The most commonly utilized registration options, termed the
                Standard Application and the Paper Application, may be used to register
                any work that is eligible for registration under sections 408(a) and
                409 of the Copyright Act, including a work by one author, a joint work,
                a work made for hire, a derivative work, a collective work, or a
                compilation. The Standard Application is filed electronically through
                the Copyright Office's eCO system. The Paper Application must be mailed
                to the Office for examination. Currently, the vast majority of
                applicants use the electronic filing option; the Copyright Office
                receives approximately 96% of copyright claims through eCO. Electronic
                filings cost the Copyright Office less to process than paper
                applications. Additionally, online applications are advantageous
                because, on average, the Copyright Office requires approximately three
                months to complete most claims that are filed electronically versus six
                months to complete most claims filed on paper applications.\61\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \61\ U.S. Copyright Office, Registration Processing Times,
                https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf. These average processing times are based on claims that do
                not require correspondence. The data is from April 1 through
                September 30, 2019.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 In reviewing the basic registration fees, the Office closely
                examined its costs and the degree to which they are recovered under the
                existing fee structure. Using the average weighted by
                [[Page 9379]]
                claim volume, the Office recovered only 51% of the cost to process an
                online application and 72% of the cost to process paper applications
                during fiscal 2016.\62\ These figures support the Office's proposal to
                increase fees for both options, in order to recover a larger percentage
                of its costs. It is estimated that the new fees (including the single
                author/single work fee discussed below) would recover 69% of the costs
                of processing electronic claims and 91% of the costs of processing
                paper applications.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \62\ Fee Study at 24.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 As noted in the prior fee study,\63\ the substantially higher costs
                of processing paper applications as compared to the more efficient
                electronic process justifies a higher fee for paper applications, and
                the Office is trying to ``incentivize electronic filings.'' \64\ The
                Office therefore is increasing the existing $85 fee for paper
                applications to $125. This increase will impact only a small percentage
                of filers, achieve a greater cost recovery for the inefficiencies of
                paper filings, and incentivize use of the electronic system.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \63\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Proposed Schedule and Analysis
                of Copyright Fees to Go into Effect on or about April 1, 2014, at 16
                (2013) (``2014 Fee Study''), https://www.copyright.gov/docs/newfees/USCOFeeStudy-Nov13.pdf.
                 \64\ Id. See, e.g., Final Rule: Group Registration of
                Newspapers, 83 FR 4144, 4145 (Jan. 30, 2018) (requiring applicants
                to file an online application rather than a paper application to
                register a group of newspapers); Final Rule: Group Registration of
                Photographs, 83 FR 2542, 2543 (Jan. 18, 2018) (requiring applicants
                to file an online application rather than a paper application to
                register a group of published photographs).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 For electronic claims submitted on the Standard Application, the
                Office is raising the current fee from $55 to $65. This is less than
                the $75 fee that was proposed in the NPRM--a change made in response to
                public comments expressing concern with the proposed increase.\65\ The
                Office believes that the $10 reduction from the original proposed fee
                will help to mitigate these concerns, and notes that the Office
                originally proposed a $65 fee for electronic claims in 2012 after
                conducting an analysis of the Office's costs.\66\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \65\ See, e.g., NMPA Comments at 1 (``The proposed increase in
                fees is likely to cause a result that is inconsistent with the
                fundamental principles of copyright protection.''); Association of
                Medical Illustrators (``AMI''), Comments Submitted in Response to
                U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
                at 5 (Sept. 18, 2018) (``AMI Comments'') (stating that AMI has
                ``little confidence'' that a fee increase ``will result in faster,
                more accurate service'').
                 \66\ 2014 Fee Study at 8.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office considered similar factors with respect to the Single
                Application, an option designed for those authors who file the simplest
                kind of claim. Specifically, the Single Application allows a single
                author to register a claim in one work that is solely owned by that
                author. This option was aimed at encouraging more individual creators
                to register their works and to foster the development of a more robust
                public record, and is part of the Copyright Office's commitment to
                maintaining an affordable copyright registration system. However, the
                Office believes that a small increase to the fee for the Single
                Application is warranted to recover at least 49% of the costs
                associated with processing these claims, in consideration of the
                Office's operational budget. The Office is therefore increasing the fee
                for claims filed using the Single Application from $35 to $45.
                 In setting this registration fee, the Copyright Office took into
                account a large number of public comments urging it to reduce fees for
                small creators. The NPRM proposed increasing this fee to $55, which
                would have achieved a 52% cost recovery. Commenters noted, however,
                that such an increase ``would be yet another financial burden upon
                writers and artists looking to become small businesses.'' \67\ The
                Copyright Office understands that works of independent creators fuel
                the nation's economy while at the same time, these individual creators
                and small business owners may be most sensitive to price increases in
                the registration system.\68\ As such, the Office is raising the
                registration fee for the Single Application from $35 to $45, $10 less
                than initially proposed. This change also reflects cost efficiencies
                achieved through technical upgrades to the Single Application \69\ and
                the promulgation of new regulations to streamline the application
                process.\70\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \67\ Danielle Williams, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S.
                Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1
                (June 6, 2018).
                 \68\ See Brandon Vogts, Comments Submitted in Response to U.S.
                Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 1
                (July 3, 2018) (``This aggressive proposed increase in the fee
                structure pertaining to copyright registrations is particularly
                problematic for both hobbyists/enthusiasts and independent
                creatives.'').
                 \69\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Streamlining the Single
                Application and Clarifying Eligibility Requirements, 83 FR 5227,
                5228 (Feb. 6, 2018).
                 \70\ See Final Rule: Streamlining the Single Application and
                Clarifying Eligibility Requirements, 83 FR 66627 (Dec. 27, 2018).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                ii. Group Registration
                 The Copyright Office adopts the following group registration fees:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related Current fees
                 services: Group registration ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Registration of a claim in a group of 85 85
                 contributions to periodicals...........
                Registration of updates or revisions to 85 500
                 a database that predominantly consists
                 of non-photographic works..............
                Registration of a claim in a group of 55 55
                 published photographs or a claim in a
                 group of unpublished photographs.......
                Registration for a database that
                 predominantly consists of photographs
                 and updates and revisions thereto:
                 Electronic filing................... 55 250
                 Paper filing........................ 65 250
                Registration of a claim in a group of
                 serials (per issue, minimum two
                 issues):
                 Electronic filing................... 25 35
                 Paper filing \71\................... 25 70
                Registration of a claim in a group of 80 95
                 newspapers or a group of newsletters...
                Registration of a claim in a group of 55 85
                 unpublished works......................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Under the Copyright Act, the Register may allow the registration of
                groups of related works with one application and filing fee.\72\
                Pursuant to this authority, the Register has promulgated regulations
                permitting the Copyright Office to issue group registrations for
                certain limited categories of works, provided certain conditions have
                been met.\73\ When implementing these options, however, the Copyright
                Office must balance the copyright owners' desire for more liberal
                registration options, the need for an accurate public record, and the
                need for an efficient
                [[Page 9380]]
                method of facilitating the examination of each work. Group registration
                options encourage registration, especially for large-volume creators.
                But it can be more difficult to adequately capture information about
                each work within the technological constraints of the current
                electronic registration system.\74\ This creates a more time-consuming
                examination process, as information relating to each work in a group
                registration claim still needs to be evaluated individually.
                Additionally, group registration options necessarily have eligibility
                restrictions that may lead to increased correspondence if applicants
                fail to heed expressed requirements. Thus, group registration options
                cost the Copyright Office more to process than claims involving one
                work of authorship.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \71\ This registration option expired at the end of 2019. See
                Final Rule: Group Registration of Serials, 84 FR 60918, 60919-20
                (Nov. 12, 2019).
                 \72\ See 17 U.S.C. 408(c)(1).
                 \73\ See generally 37 CFR 202.3(b)(5), 202.4.
                 \74\ See Final Rule: Registration of Claims to Copyright: Group
                Registration of Serials, 55 FR 50556, 50556 (Dec. 7, 1990)
                (explaining that the Copyright Office had previously declined to
                establish a group option ``due to concerns about the administrative
                burden associated with processing several works on a single
                application'' and ``[b]ased on the Office's experience with
                statutory group registration of contributions to periodicals, the
                Office [found] that, unless appropriate restrictions limit the
                availability of group registration, the administrative costs and
                burden on the Office escalate'').
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is increasing the fees for certain group applications to
                maintain adequate resources for the Copyright Office's administration
                of these options in light of the disproportionate time it takes to
                process these applications. Perhaps most significantly, the fee to
                register a claim in updates and revisions to a database that
                predominantly consists of photographs will increase from $55
                (electronic) and $65 (paper) to $250 (electronic or paper), and the fee
                to register a claim in updates and revisions to a database that
                predominantly consists of non-photographic works will increase from $85
                to $500. The Office recognizes certain commenters' concern that such a
                steep increase may impact filing volumes.\75\ The Office, however, must
                ensure that it is maintaining an appropriate cost recovery for its
                services. These claims are quite costly to process, in part, because
                applicants may include up to three months' worth of content in each
                submission, there is no limit on the number of individual works that
                may be included in each update, and the Office must examine each update
                to determine if the selection, coordination, and arrangement of the
                content is sufficiently creative. In the case of non-photographic
                databases, the claim must be submitted with a paper application and a
                physical deposit, which further increases the amount of time needed to
                handle each claim. For instance, the Office calculates that processing
                an application for group registration of updates and revisions to a
                non-photographic database costs $693.\76\ Accordingly, the Office is
                increasing the fees for both services to achieve better cost recovery.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \75\ See, e.g., Larson Skinner PLLC, Comments Submitted in
                Response to U.S. Copyright Office's May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed
                Rulemaking at 2 (Sept. 21, 2018); National Association of Realtors
                (``NAR''), Comments Submitted in Response to U.S. Copyright Office's
                May 24, 2018, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking at 4 (Sept. 21, 2018).
                 \76\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR
                24054, 24058-59 (May 24, 2018).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is also making adjustments to the fees to register
                groups of serials, newspapers, and newsletters. To encourage use of the
                electronic system, the fee to register a claim in a group of serials
                using Form SE/Group will increase from $25 to $70.\77\ And the fee to
                register a claim in a group of serials using the electronic system will
                increase from $25 to $35 to recover more of the costs of providing this
                service without greatly decreasing demand. Likewise, the fee to
                register a claim in a group of newspapers or a group of newsletters
                will increase from $80 to $95.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \77\ The Form SE/Group paper option expired on December 30,
                2019. See 84 FR at 60919-20.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Additionally, the Office is adjusting the recently promulgated fee
                to register a claim in a group of unpublished works. In the final rule
                establishing this new group option, the Office adopted a $55 fee,
                noting that the new option replaced a previously available option for
                registering an ``unpublished collection'' on the Standard
                Application.\78\ Unlike other group options, registering a claim in a
                group of unpublished works does not use the Standard Application, and,
                as explained in the final rule establishing this option, examination of
                up to ten claims necessarily requires more processing time than a
                single claim.\79\ Accordingly, the Copyright Office is increasing the
                fee from $55 to $85.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \78\ See Final Rule: Group Registration of Unpublished Works, 84
                FR 3693, 3696 (Feb. 13, 2019).
                 \79\ See id. at 3694-95.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Copyright Office is not, however, adjusting the fees for the
                registration of group claims for contributions to periodicals \80\ or
                photographs. Photographers have noted that they typically produce a
                large number of works \81\ and must register in order to receive the
                full range of judicial remedies for infringement.\82\ They also have
                cited difficulties in the registration process, noting that
                ``[e]xisting registration procedures are not optimized for visual
                imagery'' and ``work[ ] better for small volume, large profit producers
                than for those who create dozens if not hundreds of works over a short
                period.'' \83\ However, recent changes to the regulations and upgrades
                to the electronic registration system have improved efficiency of
                claims for group registration of photographs. Under the current rule,
                each claim may include no more than 750 photos. Applicants are required
                to upload their photos in a digital format and use an electronic
                application form that is specifically designed for group photo claims.
                Furthermore, they are required to submit a separate spreadsheet that
                identifies the titles, file names, and publication dates (if any) for
                each photo. The Office concludes that these improvements have obviated
                the necessity of raising the fee for groups of photographs.
                Accordingly, this fee will remain at its current level.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \80\ Because the option for registration of group claims for
                contributions to periodicals already receives sufficient cost
                recovery, the NPRM did not propose adjusting this fee. See Copyright
                Office Fees, 83 FR at 24058.
                 \81\ U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright and Visual Works: The
                Legal Landscape of Opportunities and Challenges 3 (2019) (``Visual
                Works Letter''), https://www.copyright.gov/policy/visualworks/senate-letter.pdf (noting that ``photographers might take over one
                thousand photographs in a single session'').
                 \82\ Visual Works Letter at 15-24.
                 \83\ Visual Works Letter at 3-4 (quoting comments submitted by
                the Copyright Alliance and the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and
                the Arts, Columbia University School of Law).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Finally, the Office is planning to adopt fees for registering
                claims in a group of short online literary works \84\ and a group of
                works on an album of music \85\ in connection with the conclusion of
                separate active rulemakings to establish those group options. Because
                the Office anticipates that registration for these claims will require
                a workflow similar to claims submitted on the Standard Application, the
                Office proposed a $65 fee to match the fee that applies to any claim
                submitted on the Standard Application form.\86\ While comments
                responding to the June 2019 NPRM generally supported this approach,\87\
                and the
                [[Page 9381]]
                Office has already duly provided notice of proposed fees of $65 for
                these options in the Fee Study, to avoid potential confusion, the
                Office will adopt such fees in connection with subsequent rules
                finalizing the new group options.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \84\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Group Registration of
                Short Online Literary Works, 83 FR 65612 (Dec. 21, 2018).
                 \85\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Group Registration of
                Works on an Album of Music, 84 FR 22762 (May 20, 2019).
                 \86\ Copyright Office Fees, 84 FR at 29137. See also Group
                Registration of Short Online Literary Works, 83 FR at 65616; Group
                Registration of Works on an Album of Music, 84 FR at 22766.
                 \87\ See, e.g., NMPA Supplemental Comments at 1 (``NMPA supports
                the Office's proposal to apply the Standard Application fee to GRAM
                registrations.''); RIAA Supplemental Comments at 2 (``We have no
                objection to a uniform fee for all applications that utilize the
                Standard Application form.'').
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                2. Other Registration Fees
                 The Office provides other, less commonly used registration
                services, as authorized by various provisions of the Copyright Act. The
                Office adopts the following schedule of fees for such services:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related Current fees
                 services: Other registration services ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Registration of a renewal claim (Form
                 RE):
                 Claim without addendum.............. 100 125
                 Addendum (in addition to the fee for 100 100
                 the claim).........................
                Registration of a claim in a restored 85 100
                 copyright (Form GATT)..................
                Preregistration of certain unpublished 140 200
                 works..................................
                Registration of a correction or
                 amplification to a claim:
                 Supplementary registration:
                 Electronic filing............... 130 100
                 Paper Filing for correction or 130 150
                 amplification of renewal
                 registrations, GATT
                 registrations, and group
                 registrations for non-
                 photographic databases (Form
                 CA)............................
                 Correction of a vessel design 100 100
                 registration: Form DC..............
                Registration of a claim in a mask work 120 150
                 (Form MW)..............................
                Registration of a claim in a vessel 400 500
                 design (Form D/VH).....................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                
                 Special services: Other registration Current fees
                 services ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Appeals:
                 First appeal (per claim)............ 250 350
                 Second appeal (per claim)........... 500 700
                Secure test examining fee (per staff 250 250
                 member per hour).......................
                Special handling fee for a claim........ 800 800
                 Handling fee for each non-special 50 50
                 handling claim using the same
                 deposit............................
                Full-term retention of a published
                 deposit:
                 Physical deposit.................... 540 540
                 Electronic deposit.................. New Fee 220
                Voluntary cancellation of registration.. New Fee 150
                Matching unidentified deposit to deposit New Fee 40
                 ticket claim...........................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 After reconsidering its costs and the comments submitted in
                response to the NPRM, the Office maintains that current fees do not
                offset a sufficient percentage of the Office's costs in accepting
                registrations for paper-based claims, namely claims in restored
                copyrights (Form GATT) \88\ and filings correcting or amplifying claims
                involving non-photographic databases, renewal registrations, or GATT
                registrations (Form CA).\89\ Paper-based processes are considerably
                less efficient than electronic registration. Reviewing Form GATT can be
                difficult and complex, requiring the work of higher-paid senior staff
                as well as multiple rounds of correspondence. Examining Form CAs is
                also inherently complex. And because these services must be on
                completed on paper forms, all information has to be typed into the
                cataloging system by hand. Accordingly, the Office is increasing both
                of these fees.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \88\ The current cost per transaction is $378 for the paper Form
                GATT.
                 \89\ The current cost per transaction is $411 for the paper Form
                CA.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is adopting increases to the renewal application fee
                (from $100 to $125) and the application for preregistration of
                unpublished works (from $140 to $200) to achieve a greater cost
                recovery. The Office did not receive comments objecting to either
                increase. Further, as explained in the NPRM, the Office has determined
                that adopting these increases is consistent with the Register's
                discretionary authority to use fee revenue to offset losses to further
                the objectives of the copyright system, particularly for less price
                sensitive filings like preregistration.\90\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \90\ See Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR at 24059-24060; see also
                17 U.S.C. 708(b)(4).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is also raising the fees for the registration of vessel
                hull designs and mask works, two options that may be especially costly
                for the Office to process in light of their low volume of filings.
                Registrations of vessel hull designs (Form D-VH) cost the Office $6,528
                to process, and the Office is raising this fee from $400 to $500. The
                Office is keeping the fee for correcting a vessel design registration
                (Form DC) at $100. Similarly, the Office spends $2,176 to process a
                registration of a mask work (Form MW), and the fee is increasing from
                $120 to $150 to achieve slightly higher cost recovery.
                 Next, the Office is adopting increased fees for appeals because the
                work necessary to process these requests is more time consuming than
                current pricing reflects and requires extensive work by attorney-
                advisors and senior officials.\91\ The Office is raising the fee for
                the first request for an appeal from $250 to $350 per claim, and is
                raising the fee for the second request for an appeal from $500 to $700
                per claim.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \91\ See Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR at 24060 (noting low cost
                recovery rates for first and second appeals).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Some commenters expressed concern about the low cost recovery the
                above increases would achieve. A2IM noted that ``despite being among
                the most expensive services the Office offers,'' the fees ``barely
                increased.'' \92\ Arguing that the proposed schedule would essentially
                ``subsidize services such as registering vessel hull designs, mask
                works, claims in a restored copyright for foreign works under GATT, as
                well as first and second appeals of denied registrations,'' AAP found
                it ``difficult to reconcile notions of fairness and equity with a
                proposal to benefit the few users
                [[Page 9382]]
                of these services over the vast majority of registration applicants.''
                \93\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \92\ A2IM Comments at 5.
                 \93\ AAP Comments at 4-5.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 While the Office acknowledges that the cost recovery for these
                services is relatively low, the Office has determined these fees are
                appropriate in light of the important objectives of the national
                registration system. Setting fees to achieve full cost recovery would
                likely discourage registration for services that are already low-
                volume, which would negatively impact the public record. As the NPRM
                noted, the Office is examining its vessel hull and mask work
                registration processes to determine how to more efficiently process
                each option, and is optimistic significant improvements can be
                made.\94\ Similarly, the Office recognizes the value of the
                reconsideration process to applicants as well as others interested in
                the guidance that second appeals may provide,\95\ and the difficulty of
                achieving full cost recovery in light of the required senior level
                resources. Setting fees to make these services unavailable to all but
                the most well-off claimants would not be congruent with the objectives
                of the copyright system.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \94\ See Copyright Office Fees, 83 FR at 24060.
                 \95\ The Copyright Office's responses to second requests for
                reconsideration from 2016 to the present may be viewed by the public
                at https://www.copyright.gov/rulings-filings/review-board/.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is decreasing or maintaining a number of other
                registration-related fees. The fee to register a correction or
                amplification to a claim using the electronic system is decreasing from
                $130 to $100 due to the increased efficiency achieved on the
                supplementary registration process.\96\ The Office will also maintain
                the secure test examination fee (per staff member per hour) at $250,
                although the consultant concluded it costs the Office $900 per staff
                member per hour. The Office continues to assess the burdens that the
                secure tests interim rule, which established a group registration
                option that lets applicants submit an unlimited number of secure test
                items, is having on the operations of the Registration Program.\97\ The
                Office may adjust this fee in a later rulemaking based on this
                assessment.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \96\ The current cost per transaction is $365 for the electronic
                form. As of July 2017, supplementary registration generally must be
                effectuated through the electronic application, although for some
                works the paper form (Form CA) must still be filed. See 37 CFR
                202.6(e)(1)-(4).
                 \97\ See 82 FR 52224, 52226-27 (Nov. 13, 2017).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office will not raise the special handling surcharge for
                expedited processing of a registration application. The NPRM proposed
                raising the fee from $800 to $1,000 per claim to help offset the cost
                of other registration services, and many commenters raised objections
                to this increase. For example, NMPA contended that the ``increase in
                special handling fees in particular will increasingly make copyright
                enforcement a privilege rather than a right.'' \98\ Calling the fee
                ``especially egregious,'' AAP argued the increase was exploitative in
                the context of the then-ongoing litigation in Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com. \99\ The Supreme Court since affirmed that merely applying
                for a registration is insufficient under section 411(a); rather, the
                Office must make or deny registration before an infringement suit can
                be commenced.\100\ The holding thus confirmed the need for the Office
                to have sufficient resources to ensure reasonable registration
                processing times; since the opinion issued, the average processing time
                for all claims has significantly declined from seven to four
                months.\101\ While the system is generally geared to incentivize early
                registration, the special handling surcharge is also a useful tool for
                some applicants, allowing those facing litigation to ask for their
                applications to be handled more quickly, with the Copyright Office
                generally responding within five business days.\102\ In light of these
                issues and in consideration of stakeholder comments, the Office will
                maintain the special handling surcharge at $800.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \98\ NMPA Comments at 15.
                 \99\ AAP Comments at 4.
                 \100\ Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC,
                139 S. Ct. 881, 892 (2019).
                 \101\ U.S. Copyright Office, Registration Processing Times,
                https://www.copyright.gov/registration/docs/processing-times-faqs.pdf. This average is for claims from April 1 through September
                30, 2019. See also Fourth Estate, 139 S.Ct. at 892 (``Delays in
                Copyright Office processing of applications, it appears, are
                attributable, in large measure, to staffing and budgetary shortages
                that Congress can alleviate, but courts cannot cure.'').
                 \102\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright
                Office Practices, sec. 1508.8 (3d ed. 2017) (``Compendium
                (Third)''). See also Letter from Karyn A. Temple, Register of
                Copyrights & Dir., U.S. Copyright Office, to Thom Tillis, Chairman,
                S. Comm. on the Judiciary, Subcomm. on Intellectual Prop., and
                Christopher A. Coons, Ranking Member, S. Comm. on the Judiciary,
                Subcomm. on Intellectual Prop., Explanation of U.S. Copyright Office
                Registration Processes and Challenges, at 5 (May 31, 2019), https://www.copyright.gov/laws/hearings/response-to-march-14-2019-senate-letter.pdf; Letter from Karyn A. Temple, Register of Copyrights &
                Dir., U.S. Copyright Office, to Jerrold Nadler, Chairman, H. Comm.
                on the Judiciary, and Doug Collins, Ranking Member, H. Comm. on the
                Judiciary, Explanation of U.S. Copyright Office Registration
                Processes and Challenges, at 5 (May 31, 2019), https://www.copyright.gov/laws/hearings/response-to-april-3-2019-house-letter.pdf.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is keeping the fee for full-term retention of physical
                published copyright deposits at $540 to account for projected storage
                costs for the full span of the full-term retention period, which is
                currently 75 years, but which the Office has indicated it will extend
                to 95 years to conform to the Copyright Term Extension Act.\103\ The
                Office is also adopting a new fee of $220 for full-term retention of
                electronic copyright deposits, which seeks to recover the full
                estimated cost of such a service, $221.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \103\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Simplifying Deposit
                Requirements for Certain Literary Works and Musical Compositions, 82
                FR 38859, 38863 n.22 (Aug. 16, 2017).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Finally, the Office is adopting several new fees that were
                introduced in the NPRM, none of which received significant public
                comment.\104\ The Office is permitted to cancel the registration of
                invalid claims,\105\ a process the cost of which the consultant
                calculated by assessing the time spent per employee, then analyzing
                that data under the ABC model.\106\ Because senior attorneys within the
                Registration Program must participate in this voluntary cancellation of
                registration process, the consultant calculated the cost at $369.\107\
                The Office is setting this new fee at $150 to achieve a reasonable cost
                recovery for this service.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \104\ The Office had initially proposed a new $85 fee for
                requesting special relief from deposit requirements. While that
                proposal did not garner significant opposition, the Office has
                determined not to implement this fee during the current fee study
                process.
                 \105\ Compendium (Third) sec. 1807.1.
                 \106\ Booz Allen Study at 7.
                 \107\ 83 FR at 24059.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is adopting a fee of $40 per half hour for the service
                of matching ``deposit ticket'' claims with unidentified deposits. As
                explained in the NPRM, a ``deposit ticket'' claim is one where the
                applicant submits an application and filing fee online, but separately
                submits a physical deposit copy of the work to the Office via
                mail.\108\ When sending the physical deposit copy, applicants are
                required to attach a system-generated shipping slip to the copy so that
                the Office can quickly match the deposit copy to the application.\109\
                Often, however, applicants either submit deposit copies without the
                shipping slip, or include multiple deposits and multiple slips in one
                package without attaching each slip to its respective deposit. In such
                cases, Office personnel must manually match the unidentified deposits
                to the applications. The Office is adopting this fee in this new fee
                schedule to recoup the cost of the labor involved in matching these
                items. The estimated cost for this service is $38 per half hour,
                [[Page 9383]]
                so this fee seeks to achieve full cost recovery.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \108\ 83 FR at 24060.
                 \109\ Compendium (Third) sec. 1508.2.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                3. Recordation Fees
                 The Copyright Office is adopting the following fees for recordation
                services:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related Current fees
                 services: Recordation services ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Recordation of a document, including a
                 notice of termination and a notice of
                 intention to enforce a restored
                 copyright
                 Base fee (includes 1 work identified
                 by 1 title and/or registration
                 number):
                 Paper........................... 105 125
                 Electronic...................... New Fee 95
                 Additional transfer (per transfer) 105 95
                 (for documents recorded under 17
                 U.S.C. 205)........................
                 Additional works and alternate
                 identifiers:
                 Paper (per group of 10 or fewer 35 60
                 additional works and alternate
                 identifiers)...................
                 Electronic:
                 1 to 50 additional works and 60 60
                 alternate identifiers......
                 51 to 500 additional works 225 225
                 and alternate identifiers..
                 501 to 1,000 additional 390 390
                 works and alternate
                 identifiers................
                 1,001 to 10,000 additional 555 555
                 works and alternate
                 identifiers................
                 10,001 or more additional 5,550 5,500
                 works and alternate
                 identifiers................
                 Correction of online Public Catalog 7 7
                 data due to erroneous electronic
                 title submission (per title).......
                Schedule of pre-1972 sound recordings, 75 75
                 or supplemental schedule of pre-1972
                 sound recordings (single sound
                 recording).............................
                 Additional sound recordings (per 10 10
                 group of 1 to 100 sound recordings)
                 [Reserved]
                Removal of pre-1972 sound recording from 75 75
                 Office's database of indexed schedules
                 (single sound recording)...............
                Notice of noncommercial use of pre-1972 50 50
                 sound recording........................
                Opt-out notice of noncommercial use of 50 50
                 pre-1972 sound recording...............
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                
                 Special services: Recordation
                 services Current fees ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Special handling fee for 550................... 550
                 recordation of a document.
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 As discussed in the Fee Study and NPRM, the Office is increasing
                certain recordation fees to help the Office better recover costs in
                this area. While the Office's eCO system permits electronic
                registration of most copyright claims, its recordation system remains a
                largely paper-driven process. The Office has never been able to recover
                the full cost associated with processing documents that include
                multiple and sometimes thousands of titles of copyrighted works, which
                must each be individually indexed. Thus, the Office is increasing the
                base fee for recordation of a document from $105 to $125 to achieve a
                better cost recovery. Likewise, the increase to $60 for each ten
                additional titles associated with a recorded document will allow for
                greater cost recovery in the case of more complicated filings without
                overly burdening filers. The Office is increasing the fee for
                recordation of notices of termination to $125 (from $105), which
                achieves only 23% cost recovery. Though some terminations require
                additional indexing work, the Office charges a flat fee for this
                service, which can involve more extensive examination of the notice and
                correspondence to record these notices given statutory requirements.
                 But the Office is lowering other certain fees for recordation. For
                instance, the fee for recordation of an additional transfer is
                decreasing from $105 to $95 because the Office incurs less cost in
                indexing the additional transaction.\110\ Additionally, the Office is
                working to migrate its recordation function to an electronic system. In
                fiscal year 2020, the Office anticipates launching a limited pilot for
                a new, digital recordation system. In anticipation of the launch of a
                new electronic recordation system during the period that the new fee
                schedule is in place, the Office is adopting a $95 fee to reflect the
                anticipated cost efficiencies that will be achieved with an electronic
                system. The Office appreciates the NMPA's concern that ``because the
                electronic recordation process has not yet been developed or
                implemented, and lacks a specific timeline,'' the Office should
                ``maintain or decrease the current paper recordation processing fees at
                least until the electronic system is fully operational,'' \111\ but has
                determined this fee is appropriate in part to encourage the transition
                to an electronic system. The Office will reassess its costs after the
                new system is deployed and additional data are available.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \110\ See Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees,
                83 FR 24054, 24061 (May 24, 2018).
                 \111\ NMPA Comments at 13-14.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office is also adopting a new fee structure for the recordation
                of additional titles that employs a formula based on a combination of
                the number of works, titles, and registration numbers, rather than the
                number of titles alone. The previous recordation filing fee was
                comprised of (1) a base fee that includes one title, and (2) a titles
                fee for any additional titles beyond the first (sometimes called
                ``alternate titles'').\112\ To encourage the provision of a more robust
                public record, facilitate improved cost recovery, and more equitably
                allocate costs among remitters based on the size of their filings, the
                Office issued a supplemental June 2019 NPRM, which proposed to alter
                the fee structure from being titles-based to being works-based. This
                accounts for each additional title name and registration number
                provided beyond the first title name and/or first registration number,
                and allows remitters to record, at no additional cost, registration
                numbers to accompany title names, thus facilitating improved chain-of-
                title information into the Office's record.\113\ Receiving no
                significant comments expressing
                [[Page 9384]]
                concern regarding the tier structure, and one in support, the Office
                now finalizes this adjustment in fee structure.\114\
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \112\ 37 CFR 201.3(c)(18); Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:
                Copyright Office Fees, 84 FR 29135, 29136 (June 21, 2019).
                 \113\ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Copyright Office Fees, 84
                FR 29135.
                 \114\ See Author Services, Inc., Comments Submitted in Response
                to U.S. Copyright Office's June 21, 2019, Supplemental Notice of
                Proposed Rulemaking at 1 (July 23, 2019) (``We support . . . how the
                titles/works will be counted relating to the document recordation
                fees.'').
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Last year, the Office also added several fees related to the
                implementation of title II of the Music Modernization Act (MMA) that
                are administered by the recordation program.\115\ The Office issued
                final regulations establishing new filing mechanisms to implement the
                protection and use of pre-1972 sound recordings into the federal
                scheme.\116\ These regulations established fees for the filing, and
                removal, of schedules and supplemental schedules by rights owners
                listing their sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972 (``Pre-
                1972 Sound Recordings''). Because the Office anticipated that those
                fees would be analogous to that of processing electronic section 115
                notices,\117\ the Office set the fee to be $75.\118\ This rule will not
                change that fee.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \115\ Final Rule: Noncommercial Use of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings
                That Are Not Being Commercially Exploited, 84 FR 14242, 14253 (Apr.
                9, 2019).
                 \116\ Final Rule: Filing of Schedules by Rights Owners and
                Contact Information by Transmitting Entities Relating to Pre1972
                Sound Recordings, 84 FR 10679 (Mar. 22, 2019).
                 \117\ See Interim Rule: Filing of Schedules by Rights Owners and
                Contact Information by Transmitting Entities Relating to Pre-1972
                Sound Recordings, 83 FR 52150, 52152 (Oct. 16, 2018).
                 \118\ Final Rule: Filing of Schedules by Rights Owners and
                Contact Information by Transmitting Entities Relating to Pre1972
                Sound Recordings, 84 FR 10684.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office also published a final rule regarding the noncommercial
                use exception to unauthorized uses of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings.\119\
                That rule details the filing requirements for a user to submit a notice
                of noncommercial use and for a rights owner to submit a notice opting
                out of a proposed noncommercial use. The final rule set the fees for
                both services at $50. The Office finds no reason to change these fees.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \119\ Final Rule: Noncommercial Use of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings
                That Are Not Being Commercially Exploited, 84 FR 14242.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Finally, the special handling surcharge for recordation of
                documents will be kept at $550, which will be charged in addition to
                the otherwise applicable processing fee.
                B. Record Retrieval, Search, and Certification Services
                 The Office's Records Research and Certification Section (RRC)
                provides copies of completed and in-process registration and
                recordation records, search reports, and registration deposit
                materials. The Office is adopting the following fee schedule for
                records retrieval, search, and certification services:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related
                 services: Record retrieval, search, and Current fees New fees ($)
                 certification services ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Provision of an additional certificate 40 55
                 of registration........................
                Certification of other Copyright Office 200 200
                 records, including search reports (per
                 hour)..................................
                Search report prepared from official 200 200
                 records other than Licensing Division
                 records (per hour, 2 hour minimum).....
                Estimate of retrieval or search fee 200 200
                 (credited to retrieval or search fee)..
                Retrieval of in-process or completed
                 Copyright Office records or other
                 Copyright Office materials:
                 Retrieval of paper records (per 200 200
                 hour, 1 hour minimum)..............
                 Retrieval of digital records (per 200 200
                 hour, half hour minimum, quarter
                 hour increments)...................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                
                 Special services: Record
                 retrieval, search, and Current fees ($) New fees ($)
                 certification services
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Copying of Copyright Office Varied................ 12
                 records by staff.
                Special handling fee for records Varied................ 500
                 retrieval, search, and
                 certification services (per
                 hour, 1 hour minimum).
                Litigation statement (Form LS).. New Fee............... 100
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The new fees are intended to be simpler and easier for the public
                to understand and for the Office to implement. For instance, instead of
                charging different copying fees based on the type of media involved
                (paper, audiocassette, videocassette, CD etc.), the Office is
                simplifying the copying fee to $12 regardless of media. Similarly,
                rather than try to distinguish among these various services, the Office
                is maintaining a simpler fee structure by maintaining a $200-per-hour
                fee in place for most RRC services, including a search estimate.
                 Likewise, instead of charging three different special handling fees
                for the different kinds of services RRC provides,\120\ the Office is
                adopting a standard $500 hourly fee for special handling of records
                retrieval, search, and certification services, which would apply in
                lieu of the $200-per-hour fees that are otherwise charged for such
                services. The Office charges special handling fees when the user
                requests expedited service. For example, when requesting a standard
                search report, the fee a user pays will be at least $400, or $200 per
                hour with a two-hour minimum. When requesting a search report with
                special handling, however, the fee will be $500 per hour to account for
                the expedited nature of the service. While the revenues from this
                service exceed the costs, those excess revenues help offset the cost of
                other services.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \120\ Previously, the Office charged $300 for special handling
                of a search report, for up to two hours, and $500 for additional
                hours of searching. Separately, the Office charged $305 per hour for
                special handling of retrieval, certification, and copying services.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Finally, the Office is raising the fee for an additional
                certificate of registration from $40 to $55 to achieve greater cost
                recovery; this service costs $285 to provide. The Office is also
                adopting a new fee of $100 for litigation statements, which are
                requests for certified or uncertified reproductions of deposit copies,
                phonorecords, or identifying material involved in litigation (either
                actual or prospective),\121\ to achieve almost full cost recovery.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \121\ See 37 CFR 201.2(d)(2); Compendium (Third) sec.
                2407.1(D)(2).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The Office did not receive any comments on its proposed adjusted
                fees for record retrieval, search, and certification services.
                C. Miscellaneous Fees
                 The Office is adopting the following miscellaneous fees, as
                authorized by 17 U.S.C. 708 and other provisions of the Copyright Act:
                [[Page 9385]]
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related Current fees
                 services: Miscellaneous services ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Designation of agent under 17 U.S.C. 6 6
                 512(c)(2) to receive notification of
                 claimed infringement, or amendment or
                 resubmission of designation............
                Issuance of a receipt for a section 407 30 30
                 deposit................................
                Removal of PII from registration
                 records:
                 Initial request, per registration 130 100
                 record.............................
                 Reconsideration of denied requests, 60 60
                 flat fee...........................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                
                Special services: Miscellaneous services Current Fees
                 ($) New Fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Service charge for deposit account 250 285
                 overdraft..............................
                Service charge for dishonored deposit 100 500
                 account replenishment check............
                Service charge for an uncollectible or 30 115
                 non-negotiable payment.................
                Notice to libraries and archives........ 50 50
                 Each additional title............... 20 20
                Service charge for Federal Express 45 45
                 mailing................................
                Service charge for delivery of documents 1 1
                 via facsimile (per page, 7 page
                 maximum)...............................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 As explained in the NPRM, the Office had insufficient volume to
                compute a transaction cost for the following fees, and therefore is
                keeping the cost of these services at their current levels or reducing
                them: Receipt for mandatory deposit without registration; notice to
                libraries and archives under 17 U.S.C. 108(h); initial request to
                remove requested personally identifiable information (PII) from
                registration records; and reconsideration of a denied request to remove
                PII. Similarly, the $1 and $45 fees to deliver documents by fax and by
                Federal Express mailing will remain unchanged.
                 The Office is raising the payment processing service charges to
                achieve near-complete cost recovery for those types of charges and
                discourage the incidence of such payment processing complications. The
                fee for overdraft of a deposit account will increase from $250 to $285
                to account for the estimated cost of $280. The fee for dishonored
                replenishment checks for deposit accounts will increase from $100 to
                $500 to account for the $513 cost of such service. And the fee for
                uncollectable or nonnegotiable payments will increase from $30 to $115
                to recover the $110 it costs the Office to address such a situation.
                 Finally, as proposed, the Office will maintain the fee for
                designation of an agent under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(2) at $6, despite its
                $52 cost. The Office anticipates that the ongoing costs will be lower
                as system development nears completion.
                D. Licensing Division and Related Fees
                 The Office is adopting the following Licensing Division fees:
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Licensing and related services: Current fees
                 Licensing division services ($) New fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Recordation of a notice of intention to 75 75
                 make and distribute phonorecords (17
                 U.S.C. 115)............................
                 Additional titles (per group of 1 to 20 20
                 10 titles) (paper filing)..........
                 Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 10
                 100 titles) (online filing)........
                Statement of account amendment (cable 150 50
                 television systems and satellite
                 carriers, 17 U.S.C. 111 and 119;
                 digital audio recording devices or
                 media, 17 U.S.C. 1003).................
                Recordation of certain contracts by 50 50
                 cable TV systems located outside the 48
                 contiguous states......................
                Initial or amended notice of digital 40 50
                 transmission of sound recording (17
                 U.S.C. 112, 114).......................
                Processing of a statement of account
                 based on secondary transmissions of
                 primary transmissions pursuant to 17
                 U.S.C. 111:
                 Form SA1............................ 15 15
                 Form SA2............................ 20 20
                 Form SA3............................ 725 725
                Processing of a statement of account 725 725
                 based on secondary transmissions of
                 primary transmissions pursuant to 17
                 U.S.C. 119 or 122......................
                Search report prepared from Licensing 200 200
                 Division records (per hour, 2 hour
                 minimum)...............................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 As proposed in the NPRM, the Office is maintaining a flat fee for
                paper and electric versions of Forms SA 1, 2, and 3; however, after
                examining projected fee revenues as well as reasonable expenses
                incurred to administer these licenses, the Office has determined it is
                unnecessary to implement the slight increases to these fees originally
                proposed in the NPRM.\122\ The Office is also retaining the current fee
                for statements of account for satellite systems.\123\ Fees associated
                with section 111, 119, and 122 licenses will remain, in the aggregate
                over the next five year period, below 50% of the Office's reasonable
                expenses to administer the cable and satellite licensing programs, as
                is required by statute.\124\ The Office will continue to monitor costs
                and filing volume to ensure that it complies with the statutory limit.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \122\ The Office has taken into account that the volume of cable
                statements of account is projected to continue to decrease, as it
                has done for a number of years.
                 \123\ While the recent enactment of the Satellite Television
                Community Protection and Promotion Act scaled back the types of uses
                covered by the satellite license, the Office will continue to
                administer this filing in those reduced instances. See Satellite
                Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019, Public
                Law 116-94, sec. 1102 (2019).
                 \124\ 17 U.S.C. 708(a)(11).
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 The fee for an amended statement of account filed by cable systems,
                satellite systems, and digital audio recording device distributors will
                be reduced to
                [[Page 9386]]
                $50. But as noted in the NPRM, the Office intends to charge that
                amendment fee in a wider range of circumstances, including when Office
                examination uncovers an error that requires the filing of an amended
                statement of account.
                 The Office is raising the fee for section 112 and 114 initial and
                amended notices from $40 to $50 to achieve greater recovery of the $300
                cost associated with such notices.
                 Finally, the Music Modernization Act (``MMA'') makes significant
                changes to the section 115 compulsory license and adds several
                services, which the Licensing Division administers. The Office is
                keeping the fees for section 115 notices at their current levels,
                which, following passage of the MMA, now relate only to non-digital
                phonorecord deliveries of a musical work.\125\ Post-MMA, the Office has
                thus far received only nine section 115 notices, and has concluded that
                the best approach is to retain the current fee and reassess the utility
                and efficiency of this license in the next fee study with new data on
                this narrower subset of filers now eligible to file this notice. The
                Office is not changing any other fees for services of the Licensing
                Division.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 \125\ See Final Rule: Notices of Intention and Statements of
                Account Under Compulsory License To Make and Distribute Phonorecords
                of Musical Works, 84 FR 10685 (Mar. 22, 2019). For more information
                about the MMA, see https://www.copyright.gov/music-modernization/.
                ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 201
                 Copyright, General provisions.
                Final Regulations
                 For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
                amends 37 CFR part 201 as follows:
                PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
                0
                1. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read as follows:
                 Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
                0
                2. In Sec. 201.3, revise paragraphs (c), (d), and (e) to read as
                follows:
                Sec. 201.3 Fees for registration, recordation, and related services,
                special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.
                * * * * *
                 (c) Registration, recordation, and related service fees. The
                Copyright Office has established fees for these services. To calculate
                the fee specified by paragraph (c)(20) of this section, for each work
                identified in a document: The first title and/or first registration
                number provided for that particular work constitutes a work; and each
                additional title and registration number provided for that particular
                work beyond the first constitutes an alternate identifier. The fees are
                as follows:
                 Table 1 to Paragraph (c)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Registration, recordation, and related services Fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                (1) Registration of a claim in an original work of
                 authorship:
                 (i) Electronic filing:
                 (A) Single author, same claimant, one work, not 45
                 for hire.......................................
                 (B) All other filings........................... 65
                 (ii) Paper Filing (Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE, SR).... 125
                (2) Registration of a claim in a group of contributions 85
                 to periodicals.........................................
                (3) Registration of updates or revisions to a database 500
                 that predominantly consists of non-photographic works..
                (4) Registration of a claim in a group of published 55
                 photographs or a claim in a group of unpublished
                 photographs............................................
                (5) Registration for a database that predominantly
                 consists of photographs and updates thereto:
                 (i) Electronic filing............................... 250
                 (ii) Paper filing................................... 250
                (6) Registration of a renewal claim (Form RE):
                 (i) Claim without addendum.......................... 125
                 (ii) Addendum (in addition to the fee for the claim) 100
                (7) Registration of a claim in a group of serials (per
                 issue, minimum two issues):
                 (i) Electronic filing............................... 35
                 (ii) Paper filing................................... 70
                (8) Registration of a claim in a group of newspapers or 95
                 a group of newsletters.................................
                (9) Registration of a claim in a group of unpublished 85
                 works..................................................
                (10) Registration of a claim in a restored copyright 100
                 (Form GATT)............................................
                (11) Preregistration of certain unpublished works....... 200
                (12) Registration of a correction or amplification to a
                 claim:
                 (i) Supplementary registration:
                 (A) Electronic filing........................... 100
                 (B) Paper Filing for correction or amplification 150
                 of renewal registrations, GATT registrations,
                 and group registrations for non-photographic
                 databases (Form CA)............................
                 (ii) Correction of a design registration: Form DC... 100
                (13) Registration of a claim in a mask work (Form MW)... 150
                (14) Registration of a claim in a vessel design (Form D/ 500
                 VH)....................................................
                (15) Provision of an additional certificate of 55
                 registration...........................................
                (16) Certification of other Copyright Office records, 200
                 including search reports (per hour)....................
                (17) Search report prepared from official records other 200
                 than Licensing Division records (per hour, 2 hour
                 minimum)...............................................
                (18) Estimate of retrieval or search fee (credited to 200
                 retrieval or search fee)...............................
                (19) Retrieval of in-process or completed Copyright
                 Office records or other Copyright Office materials:
                 (i) Retrieval of paper records (per hour, 1 hour 200
                 minimum)...........................................
                 (ii) Retrieval of digital records (per hour, half 200
                 hour minimum, quarter hour increments).............
                (20) Recordation of a document, including a notice of
                 termination and a notice of intention to enforce a
                 restored copyright:
                 (i) Base fee (includes 1 work identified by 1 title
                 and/or registration number):
                 (A) Paper....................................... 125
                 (B) Electronic.................................. 95
                 (ii) Additional transfer (per transfer) (for 95
                 documents recorded under 17 U.S.C. 205)............
                 (iii) Additional works and alternate identifiers:
                [[Page 9387]]
                
                 (A) Paper (per group of 10 or fewer additional 60
                 works and alternate identifiers)...............
                 (B) Electronic:
                 (1) 1 to 50 additional works and alternate 60
                 identifiers................................
                 (2) 51 to 500 additional works and alternate 225
                 identifiers................................
                 (3) 501 to 1,000 additional works and 390
                 alternate identifiers......................
                 (4) 1,001 to 10,000 additional works and 555
                 alternate identifiers......................
                 (5) 10,001 or more additional works and 5,500
                 alternate identifiers......................
                 (iv) Correction of online Public Catalog data due to 7
                 erroneous electronic title submission (per title)..
                (21) Designation of agent under 17 U.S.C. 512(c)(2) to 6
                 receive notification of claimed infringement, or
                 amendment or resubmission of designation...............
                (22)(i) Schedule of pre-1972 sound recordings, or 75
                 supplemental schedule of pre-1972 sound recordings
                 (single sound recording)...............................
                 (ii) Additional sound recordings (per group of 1 to 10
                 100 sound recordings)..............................
                (23) Removal of pre-1972 sound recording from Office's 75
                 database of indexed schedules (single sound recording).
                (24) Notice of noncommercial use of pre-1972 sound 50
                 recording..............................................
                (25) Opt-out notice of noncommercial use of pre-1972 50
                 sound recording........................................
                (26) Issuance of a receipt for a section 407 deposit.... 30
                (27) Removal of PII from Registration Records:
                 (i) Initial request, per registration record........ 100
                 (ii) Reconsideration of denied requests, flat fee... 60
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 (d) Special service fees. The Copyright Office has established the
                following fees for special services of the Office:
                 Table 1 to Paragraph (d)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Special services Fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                (1) Service charge for deposit account overdraft........ 285
                (2) Service charge for dishonored deposit account 500
                 replenishment check....................................
                (3) Service charge for an uncollectible or non- 115
                 negotiable payment.....................................
                (4) Appeals:
                 (i) First appeal (per claim)........................ 350
                 (ii) Second appeal (per claim)...................... 700
                (5) Secure test examining fee (per staff member per 250
                 hour)..................................................
                (6) Copying of Copyright Office records by staff........ 12
                (7)(i) Special handling fee for a claim................. 800
                 (ii) Handling fee for each non-special handling 50
                 claim using the same deposit.......................
                (8) Special handling fee for recordation of a document.. 550
                (9) Handling fee for extra deposit copy for 50
                 certification..........................................
                (10) Full-term retention of a published deposit:
                 (i) Physical deposit................................ 540
                 (ii) Electronic deposit............................. 220
                (11) Voluntary cancellation of registration............. 150
                (12) Matching unidentified deposit to deposit ticket 40
                 claim..................................................
                (13) Special handling fee for records retrieval, search, 500
                 and certification services (per hour, 1 hour minimum)..
                (14) Litigation statement (Form LS)..................... 100
                (15)(i) Notice to libraries and archives................ 50
                 (ii) Each additional title.......................... 20
                (16) Service charge for Federal Express mailing......... 45
                (17) Service charge for delivery of documents via 1
                 facsimile (per page, 7 page maximum)...................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 (e) Licensing Division service fees. The Copyright Office has
                established the following fees for specific services of the Licensing
                Division:
                 Table 1 to Paragraph (e)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Licensing division services Fees ($)
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                (1)(i) Recordation of a notice of intention to make and 75
                 distribute phonorecords (17 U.S.C. 115)................
                 (ii) Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 titles) 20
                 (paper filing).....................................
                 (iii) Additional titles (per group of 1 to 100 10
                 titles) (online filing)............................
                (2) Statement of account amendment (cable television 50
                 systems and satellite carriers, 17 U.S.C. 111 and 119;
                 digital audio recording devices or media, 17 U.S.C.
                 1003)..................................................
                [[Page 9388]]
                
                (3) Recordation of certain contracts by cable TV systems 50
                 located outside the 48 contiguous states...............
                (4) Initial or amended notice of digital transmission of 50
                 sound recording (17 U.S.C. 112, 114)...................
                (5) Processing of a statement of account based on
                 secondary transmissions of primary transmissions
                 pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 111:
                 (i) Form SA1........................................ 15
                 (ii) Form SA2....................................... 20
                 (iii) Form SA3...................................... 725
                (6) Processing of a statement of account based on 725
                 secondary transmissions of primary transmissions
                 pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 119 or 122.......................
                (7) Search report prepared from Licensing Division 200
                 records (per hour, 2 hour minimum).....................
                ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                * * * * *
                 Dated: February 13, 2020.
                Maria Strong,
                Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright
                Office.
                Approved by:
                Carla D. Hayden,
                Librarian of Congress
                [FR Doc. 2020-03268 Filed 2-18-20; 8:45 am]
                 BILLING CODE 1410-30-P
                

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