The United States Copyright Office’s new fee schedule takes effect on or about November 11, 2026. It is the Office’s first fee adjustment since 2020, and it raises the cost of registering and recording works by an average of roughly 43 percent. Some fees more than double. The Office submitted the schedule to Congress on July 14, 2026 under 17 U.S.C. § 708(b), and Congress enacted no legislation disapproving it within the 120-day review period. The Office has said it will fix the exact implementation date in a final rule published in the Federal Register. Because the fee owed is generally the one in effect when the Office receives the filing, applications submitted before that date should be charged at the current rates.
The Real Cost: Enforcing an Unregistered Work
The largest cost increase falls on owners who wait until after an infringement to register. Section 411(a) requires registration, or a refusal, of a United States work before an infringement suit may be filed. In Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 586 U.S. 296 (2019), the Supreme Court held that registration occurs when the Office acts on the application, not when the application is filed. An owner who needs to sue quickly must therefore pay the special handling surcharge to expedite examination, and that surcharge rises from $800 to $1,100 per claim, on top of the filing fee.
Timely registration also determines the remedies available. Under § 412, statutory damages and attorney’s fees are unavailable unless the work was registered before the infringement began or within three months of first publication. Under § 410(c), a certificate carries prima facie evidentiary weight only if registration was made within five years of publication. The new fees make it more expensive to neglect registration, not just to register.
Fees Most Content Owners Will Feel
- Standard Application (electronic): $65 to $85
- Single Application (one author, one work): $45 to $55
- Group registration of photographs: $55 to $85
- Group of short online literary works (blog posts, articles): $65 to $130
- Group of sound recordings on an album: $65 to $130
- Group of musical works on an album: $65 to $85
- Special handling (expedited examination): $800 to $1,100
- Recordation of a transfer or other document (electronic): $95 to $215
The asymmetry for music is notable. After public comment, the Office reduced the proposed fee for musical works on an album to $85 but left the fee for sound recordings at $130, so registering both on the same album now costs $215 instead of $130. The Office also kept the lower-cost Single Application for individual creators, which its March proposal would have eliminated, with a $10 increase.
Recordation
Recording a document with the Office is often a legal necessity rather than a formality. Under § 205, recordation of a transfer provides constructive notice and determines priority between conflicting transfers. A notice of termination under §§ 203 or 304 must be recorded before the termination’s effective date for the termination to take effect. The electronic recordation fee more than doubles, from $95 to $215, and a paper notice of termination rises from $125 to $275.
Practical Significance
Rights holders with completed but unregistered works, including catalogs, photo archives, published articles, and recently released music, should file now, using group registration options where the works qualify. Final assignments, licenses, security interests, and notices of termination should be recorded before the new schedule takes effect. Over the longer term, the increase strengthens the case for registering systematically at or near publication. Doing so preserves statutory damages and attorney’s fees and avoids the $1,100 surcharge, which otherwise becomes the price of establishing the right to sue after an infringement has already occurred.
