§ 708. Copyright Office fees

3,117 words·~14 min read·/usc/title-17/section-708

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(a)Fees.— Fees shall be paid to the Register of Copyrights—

(1)on filing each 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)on filing each application for registration of a claim for renewal of a subsisting copyright under section 304(a), including the issuance of a certificate of registration if registration is made;

(3)for the issuance of a receipt for a deposit under section 407;

(4)for the recordation, as provided by section 205, of a transfer of copyright ownership or other document;

(5)for the filing, under section 115(b),1 of a notice of intention to obtain a compulsory license;

(6)for the recordation, under section 302(c), of a statement revealing the identity of an author of an anonymous or pseudonymous work, or for the recordation, under section 302(d), of a statement relating to the death of an author;

(7)for the issuance, under section 706, of an additional certificate of registration;

(8)for the issuance of any other certification;

(9)for the making and reporting of a search as provided by section 705, and for any related services;

(10)on filing a statement of account based on secondary transmissions of primary transmissions pursuant to section 119 or 122; and

(11)on filing a statement of account based on secondary transmissions of primary transmissions pursuant to section 111.

The Register is authorized to fix fees for other services, including the cost of preparing copies of Copyright Office records, whether or not such copies are certified, based on the cost of providing the service. Fees established under paragraphs

(10)and

(11)shall be reasonable and may not exceed one-half of the cost necessary to cover reasonable expenses incurred by the Copyright Office for the collection and administration of the statements of account and any royalty fees deposited with such statements.

(b)Adjustment of Fees.— The Register of Copyrights may, by regulation, adjust the fees for the services specified in paragraphs

(1)through

(9)of subsection

(a)in the following manner:

(1)The Register shall conduct a study of the costs incurred by the Copyright Office for the registration of claims, the recordation of documents, and the provision of services. The study shall also consider the timing of any adjustment in fees and the authority to use such fees consistent with the budget.

(2)The Register may, on the basis of the study under paragraph (1), and subject to paragraph (5), adjust fees to not more than that necessary to cover the reasonable costs incurred by the Copyright Office for the services described in paragraph (1), plus a reasonable inflation adjustment to account for any estimated increase in costs.

(3)Any fee established under paragraph

(2)shall be rounded off to the nearest dollar, or for a fee less than $12, rounded off to the nearest 50 cents.

(4)Fees established under this subsection shall be fair and equitable and give due consideration to the objectives of the copyright system.

(5)If the Register determines under paragraph

(2)that fees should be adjusted, the Register shall prepare a proposed fee schedule and submit the schedule with the accompanying economic analysis to the Congress. The fees proposed by the Register may be instituted after the end of 120 days after the schedule is submitted to the Congress unless, within that 120-day period, a law is enacted stating in substance that the Congress does not approve the schedule.

(c)The fees prescribed by or under this section are applicable to the United States Government and any of its agencies, employees, or officers, but the Register of Copyrights has discretion to waive the requirement of this subsection in occasional or isolated cases involving relatively small amounts.

(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), all fees received under this section shall be deposited by the Register of Copyrights in the Treasury of the United States and shall be credited to the appropriations for necessary expenses of the Copyright Office. Such fees that are collected shall remain available until expended. The Register may, in accordance with regulations that he or she shall prescribe, refund any sum paid by mistake or in excess of the fee required by this section.

(2)In the case of fees deposited against future services, the Register of Copyrights shall request the Secretary of the Treasury to invest in interest-bearing securities in the United States Treasury any portion of the fees that, as determined by the Register, is not required to meet current deposit account demands. Funds from such portion of fees shall be invested in securities that permit funds to be available to the Copyright Office at all times if they are determined to be necessary to meet current deposit account demands. Such investments shall be in public debt securities with maturities suitable to the needs of the Copyright Office, as determined by the Register of Copyrights, and bearing interest at rates determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, taking into consideration current market yields on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable maturities.

(3)The income on such investments shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States and shall be credited to the appropriations for necessary expenses of the Copyright Office.

(1)In this subsection, the term “covered competition” means—

(A)an art competition sponsored by the Congressional Institute that is open only to high school students; or

(B)the competition established under section 3 of House Resolution 77, 113th Congress, agreed to February 26, 2013.

(2)With respect to a work that wins a covered competition, the Register of Copyrights—

(A)shall waive the requirement under subsection (a)(1) with respect to an application for registration of a copyright claim for that work if that application is submitted to the Copyright Office not later than the last day of the calendar year following the year in which the work claimed by the application wins the covered competition (referred to in this paragraph as the “covered year”); and

(B)may waive a fee described in subparagraph

(A)for an application submitted after the end of the covered year if the fee would have been waived under that subparagraph had the application been submitted before the last day of the covered year.

(Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2593; Pub. L. 95–94, title IV, § 406(b), Aug. 5, 1977, 91 Stat. 682; Pub. L. 97–366, § 1, Oct. 25, 1982, 96 Stat. 1759; Pub. L. 101–318, § 2(a), (b), July 3, 1990, 104 Stat. 287, 288; Pub. L. 102–307, title I, § 102(f), June 26, 1992, 106 Stat. 266; Pub. L. 105–80, § 7, Nov. 13, 1997, 111 Stat. 1532; Pub. L. 106–379, § 3(a)(3), Oct. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 1445; Pub. L. 111–175, title I, § 106, May 27, 2010, 124 Stat. 1244; Pub. L. 117–201, § 2, Oct. 17, 2022, 136 Stat. 2222.)

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