On October 14, 2008, the Copyright Office published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register (73 FR 60658) to inform the public that it is considering adoption of new fees for registration of claims, special services, and Licensing Division services and that the Office intends to submit to Congress a schedule of proposed new statutory fees and fees for certain other services. The proposed fees would recover a significant part of the costs to the Office of registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many services provided by the Office that benefit only or primarily the user of that service. The new fees are based on reliable information regarding the costs of providing services and reflect the new electronic processing of most claims that was implemented in the Copyright Office in 2007. The Federal Register omitted a portion of the chart showing the new and current fees. That chart was published on October 23, 2008 (73 FR 63111). Readers must view both 73 FR 60658 and 73 FR 63111 to see the complete fee proposals. In addition, the revised due date for comments is November 24, 2008 (73 FR 64905). The Office anticipates implementation of the new fee schedule by April 1, 2009. For further information, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov.

Copyright Office Cost Study and Fee Recommendations Published on Website

A report prepared for the Register of Copyrights presents the results of an internal study and analysis of the costs that the Copyright Office incurs in registering claims, recording documents, and providing related services, and recommends a new fee schedule for those services. The study recommends a fee schedule based on cost determinations as well as policy, economic factors, fairness, equity, and consideration of the objectives of the copyright system as well as projected inflation and elasticity relating to fees. To read the study, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov/reports/fees2008.pdf. (Read further information)