15910 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 56 / Monday, March 24, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

1See 17 U.S.C. 708. 

2See 17 U.S.C. 708(b). 

3Fees, 74 FR 32805 (U.S. Copyright Office July 9, 

2009). In 1997, Congress created a new fee system 

allowing the 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 17 U.S.C. 708(b). The Register sent the proposed 

schedule to Congress on November 14, 2013. It is 

available at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/

newfees/USCOFeeStudy-Nov13.pdf. 

5 Id. section 708(a). With the 2010 enactment of 

the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act 

of 2010, Public Law 111–175, 124 Stat. 1218 (2010) 

(codified in Sections 111, 119, and 122 of title 17) 

(‘‘STELA’’), Congress for the first time authorized 

the Office to charge fees to licensees for the Office’s 

processing of cable and satellite statements of 

account under the Section 111, 119, and 122 

statutory licenses. Such fees are to 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.’’ 17 

U.S.C. 708(a). To implement STELA, the Office 

conducted a study of its costs in relation to the 

filing of cable and satellite statements and solicited 

input from stakeholders on proposed fees through 

a notice and comment proceeding. See Copyright 

Office Fees, 77 FR 18742 (Mar. 28, 2012); Copyright 

Office Fees, 77 FR 72788 (Dec. 6, 2012), both 

available at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/

newfees/. As noted above, the STELA fees are not 

required to be submitted to Congress. In November 

2013, the Office issued a final rule establishing 

filing fees under STELA. See Copyright Office Fees: 

Cable and Satellite Statement of Account Fees, 78 

FR 71498 (Nov. 29, 2013) (to be codified at 37 CFR 

pt. 201), available at http://www.copyright.gov/

docs/newfees/. 

6 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(1). 

project operating under an existing 

Commission approval, the project 

approval reference and a description of 

the operational changes requested. 

* * * * * 

Dated: March 17, 2014. 

Stephanie L. Richardson, 

Secretary to the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2014–06323 Filed 3–21–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7040–01–P 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

U.S. Copyright Office 

37 CFR Parts 201 and 203 

[Docket No. 2012–1] 

Copyright Office Fees: Registration, 

Recordation and Related Services; 

Special Services; Licensing Division 

Services; FOIA Services 

AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library 

of Congress. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The United States Copyright 

Office of the Library of Congress is 

publishing a final rule establishing 

adjusted fees for its services. The 

adjusted fees will recover a significant 

part 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. Under the new 

fee structure, the fee for online 

registration of a standard claim will 

increase from $35 to $55. However, a 

new online registration option for single 

works by single authors that are not 

works made for hire has been 

introduced at a lower fee of $35. In 

addition to fees for registration, related 

services, and special services, this final 

rule establishes updated fees for FOIArelated services. 

DATES: This rule is effective May 1, 

2014. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jacqueline C. Charlesworth, General 

Counsel and Associate Register of 

Copyrights, or Chris Weston, AttorneyAdvisor, Office of the General Counsel, 

at the U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright 

GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Washington, 

DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 707–8350. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

This final rule adjusts Copyright 

Office fees in accordance with the 

applicable provisions of title 17, United 

States Code (the ‘‘Copyright Act’’ or 

‘‘Act’’). While some of the Office’s 

services are free to the public— 

including the Public Information 

Office’s provision of valuable guidance 

on copyright registration and other 

issues—the Office does charge fees for 

many of its services.1 The Copyright Act 

provides that the Register of Copyrights 

may adjust the Office’s fees based on a 

study of its costs for administering the 

registration of claims and recordation of 

documents and the provision of other 

services.2 Since the Act was amended to 

provide for these adjustments, the Office 

has undertaken fee studies every several 

years and made changes accordingly. 

The Office last adjusted its fees in 

2009.3

Section 708(a) of the Act specifies that 

‘‘[f]ees shall be paid to 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 

(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 fee-setting mechanisms. Fees 

for the services described in (1) through 

(9) above—which include the Office’s 

registration and recordation functions 

and thus reflect especially important 

public policy objectives—are to be set 

forth in a proposed schedule that is sent 

to Congress 120 days before the adjusted 

fees can take effect.4 Other fees, 

including those for the filing of cable 

and satellite statements of account 

under (10) and (11) and additional 

Office services, are not submitted to 

Congress but instead are established by 

the Register of Copyrights based on the 

Office’s costs.5

Before proposing new fees for the 

services enumerated in (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.6

Section 708(b) further provides that the 

Register may adjust these fees to ‘‘not 

more than necessary to cover the 

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7 Id. section 708(b)(2). 

8 Id. section 708(b)(4). 

9Copyright Office Fees, 77 FR 3506 (Jan. 24, 

2012). 

10The Office previously referred to the most 

common registration filings (including for single 

authors claiming single works) as ‘‘basic’’ 

applications and registrations. The Office recently 

began using the term ‘‘standard’’ so it could 

differentiate between the newly introduced single 

author/single work offering—which the Office 

refers to as the ‘‘single application’’ option—and 

other traditional ‘‘basic’’ registrations, which it now 

refers to as ‘‘standard.’’ 

11The comments can be viewed on the Copyright 

Office Web site at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/

newfees/. 

12While the NOI requested comments on 

additional categories of services, and the Office may 

continue to explore these issues, at present it lacks 

sufficient information to proceed with the potential 

expansion of its special handling or expedited 

services. In addition, the NOI garnered a number of 

proposals that the Office appreciates but that could 

not be addressed solely in the context of a fee study, 

including: Whether photographers could pay a flat 

fee for registration of photographs in the context of 

a business-to-business submission model; whether 

copyright registration certificates and/or recorded 

documents could be made available online for free; 

and whether the Office should accept deposits of 

works in electronic formats that might be 

insufficient for the Library’s ‘‘best edition’’ 

requirement. 

13Copyright Office Fees, 77 FR 18742 (Mar. 28, 

2012). 

14Some of the fees discussed in the NPR, 

including various service fees, Licensing Division 

fees, and FOIA fees, are set by the Office pursuant 

to its authority under Section 708(a) rather than 

through the Section 708(b) process, and hence were 

not discussed in the proposed schedule submitted 

to Congress. 

15 77 FR at 18743. 

16 Id. 18743. 

17 Id. 

18 Id. 

19 Id. 

20 Id. 

21 Id. 18744. 

22 Id. 

23 Id. 

24 Id. 

25 Id. 

26 Id. 

27 Id. 

28 Id. 

29 Id. 

reasonable costs incurred by the 

Copyright Office for . . . [such 

services], plus a reasonable inflation 

adjustment to account for any estimated 

increase in costs.’’ 7 Finally, Section 

708(b) mandates that the ‘‘[f]ees [so] 

established . . . shall be fair and 

equitable and give due consideration to 

the objectives of the copyright 

system.’’ 8

Additionally, when assessing fees for 

providing services under the Freedom of 

Information Act (‘‘FOIA’’), the Office 

considers Office of Management and 

Budget (‘‘OMB’’) guidelines that explain 

the methodology for setting such fees. 

Pursuant to Section 708, the Office 

commenced its most recent cost study 

in October 2011. The Office began its 

work by compiling preliminary fee and 

service data from fiscal 2011 and 

followed this initial research with 

formal public outreach. 

On January 24, 2012, the Office 

published a Notice of Inquiry (‘‘NOI’’) 9

seeking comments on the following two 

questions: (1) With respect to the 

standard 10 registration application fee, 

whether special consideration should be 

provided to individual author-claimants 

registering a single work; and (2) 

whether the Office should expand, 

improve, or add to its offerings, 

including, for example, additional 

expedited services and fee options. 

The Office received ten comments in 

response to the initial inquiry.11 A 

majority of the comments supported 

special consideration for authorclaimants registering a single work. 

Other comments discussed potential 

additional services.12

After reviewing the initial comments 

from the NOI and the data from fiscal 

2011, the Office published a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (‘‘NPR’’) on 

March 28, 2012.13 In the NPR, the Office 

set forth a proposed fee schedule, along 

with its reasoning. The NPR reviewed 

potential fee changes in four categories: 

(1) Registration, recordation, and related 

service fees; (2) other service fees; (3) 

Licensing Division fees; and (4) FOIA 

fees.14 The Office explained that, for 

most of the fees, it had calculated its 

costs based on traditional methodology 

using an activity-based costing process 

to determine the full cost of each Office 

service.15 The Office used OMB 

guidelines to determine proposed FOIA 

fees. Proposed fees for Licensing 

Division services were based either on 

a separate cost study that addressed the 

budget and expenditures of the 

Licensing Division or, in the case of 

Licensing Division services that parallel 

other services in the Office, were based 

on the cost study covering Office 

services. 

The NPR proposed that the Office 

continue to offer both paper and 

electronic registration options for 

standard registration claims and 

continue to charge a higher fee for paper 

forms, which are less efficient than 

electronic forms for both the Office and 

applicants.16 The Office also proposed 

offering a discounted registration fee for 

single authors who file an online claim 

for a single work that is not a work 

made for hire.17 Referencing its 

obligation to consider the objectives of 

the copyright system, the Office noted 

the importance of independent authors’ 

contributions to the nation’s economy 

and to the Library of Congress’s 

collections.18 It also noted that many 

who commented on the NOI supported 

a lower fee in such situations.19

The NPR proposed the following fees 

for standard registration claims: $100 for 

paper applications (up from $65); and 

$65 for other electronic claims (up from 

$35). Additionally, the Office 

recommended a fee of $45 for the new 

category of single authors filing online 

claims for single works not made for 

hire.20 In this regard, it should be noted 

that the $35 online application fee 

initiated in 2009 was discounted to 

encourage electronic registrations. Prior 

to that, the fee for standard applications 

had been universally set at $45. The 

Office also proposed raising the fees 

applicable to group registrations, 

including for groups of published 

photographs.21

The NPR also proposed new fees for 

renewal forms. The Office proposed 

reducing renewal fees from $115 to 

$100.22 Similarly, the Office proposed 

lowering the fee for filing a Renewal 

Addendum, the necessary filing for 

renewal when standard registration for 

the work was not made during the 

original term, from $220 to $100.23 The 

Office proposed these reductions 

because renewals are no longer required 

to secure the full term of copyright 

protection and it is not feasible to 

attempt full cost recovery.24 The NPR 

noted that setting a fee ‘‘to recover full 

cost would be prohibitive and negate 

the goals of the Office in encouraging 

registration of these older claims, many 

of which may still be commercially 

viable, and incorporating these claims 

into the public record.’’ 25

Additionally, the NPR discussed 

raising fees for other Office services. It 

proposed raising the basic recordation 

fee from $105 to $120 and the fee for 

each additional ten titles recorded from 

$30 to $35.26 The Office suggested these 

increases because, on the whole, it has 

not recovered the cost of processing 

recordations in recent years.27 The 

Office further recommended increased 

fees for certification services and 

issuance of receipts for deposits under 

17 U.S.C. 407.28 The Office also 

proposed raising the fee for search 

reports prepared from Office records to 

$200 per hour with a two-hour 

minimum.29

The NPR discussed potential changes 

to the Office’s service fees, which 

include fees for expedited service (or 

‘‘special handling’’), secure test 

processing, requests to reconsider 

rejections of claims, and reproduction of 

Office records, among other things. The 

Office proposed increasing the fees for 

many of these services, with many of 

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30 Id. 31 Id. 18745. 32 Id. 33 Id. 34 17 U.S.C. 115(b). 35 77 FR at 18745. 36 Id. 18745–46. 37 Id. 18746. 

38 Id. 

39 Id. 40 Id. 41Comments of the Am. Ass’n of Independent 

Music (‘‘A2IM’’) at 1 (May 3, 2012). 42 Joint Comments of Am. Soc’y of Media 

Photographers & Prof’l Photographers of Am. at 2 

(May 14, 2012). 

43 Id. 3. 44 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(5). 45See id. section 708. The fees set in 37 CFR 

201.3(e)(6) and (7) (the STELA implementation fees) 

went into effect on January 1, 2014. They are 

included in the fee schedule set forth in this Final 

Rule for ease of insertion into the Code of Federal 

Regulations. 

46This includes FASAB’s Managerial Cost 

Accounting Concepts and Standards for the Federal 

Government, which promotes activity-based costing 

for calculating the cost of providing services. See 

Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Statement #4/Managerial 

Cost Accounting Concepts and Standards for the 

Federal Government (July 31, 1995), http://

www.fasab.gov/pdffiles/sffas-4.pdf. 

47See Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Circular No. A– 

25 Revised, http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/

circulars_a025. 

48Among other things, Circular A–25 provides 

that services with a broad-reaching benefit generally 

need not recover their full costs, whereas special 

services, i.e., 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. 

these proposals reflecting cost increases. 

The Office, however, did not propose 

increased fees for all services (e.g., 

photocopying fees), and recommended 

that some fees be lowered.30

Regarding expedited handling, the 

NPR noted that the proposed cost 

increase reflected inflationary changes 

and that the Office declined to add 

additional expedited handling 

categories at this time.31 The NPR also 

stated that the fees for secure test 

processing should be increased because 

the review process could include one or 

more staff members and thus be quite 

labor intensive.32 Finally, the NPR 

explained that, while the Office was not 

proposing an increase in the fees for 

requests for reconsideration of rejected 

claims, it did propose that each request 

be limited to a single claim.33

The NPR also proposed new fees for 

filing Notices of Intent under Section 

115 of the Copyright Act. The Office 

accepts Notices of Intent when a user 

cannot serve the requisite notice of use 

of a musical work on the copyright 

owner pursuant to Section 115 because 

Office records do not reflect the owner’s 

identity and address.34 Recently, there 

has been an exponential expansion of 

these notices due to the increased use of 

musical works by online services.35 The 

Office thus is developing an electronic 

filing system for these notices and, as 

part of its study, undertook to determine 

updated filing fees for Notices of 

Intent.36 Based on the Office’s study, it 

proposed a fee of $75 for a notice with 

a single title, and for notices 

incorporating additional titles, a fee of 

$20 per ten additional titles submitted 

on paper and $10 per one hundred 

additional titles submitted 

electronically.37

Finally, the NPR addressed fees for 

responding to FOIA requests. The Office 

noted that it has not adjusted its FOIA 

fees since 1999. Following the OMB 

guidelines, which specify that FOIA fees 

should be established using direct costs, 

the Office proposed fees as follows: (1) 

For searches conducted by 

administrative staff, $15 for the first half 

hour and $7.50 for each additional 

fifteen minutes; and (2) for searches 

provided by professional staff, $35 for 

the first half hour and $17.50 for each 

additional fifteen minutes.38 Similarly, 

the Office proposed adopting new fees 

for reviewing the documents at the same 

rates as those proposed for a FOIA 

search by administrative and 

professional staff, although the fees for 

reviewing the documents would be 

based on fifteen-minute increments and 

without a minimum fee.39 Finally, the 

Office proposed to eliminate the 

separate FOIA fee for a copy of a 

certificate of copyright registration and 

the separate FOIA fee for certification 

services, currently referenced in 37 CFR 

203.6(b)(1), (4), respectively, as those 

fees are to be assessed in accordance 

with the fees for those services as 

provided in the Office’s general fee 

schedule.40

The Office received 138 comments in 

response to the NPR. Some of the 

commenters requested that the Office 

expand the definition of single 

claimant/single author, review the 

renewal fees, and look to discount bulk 

registrations. The majority, however, 

expressed concerns about the proposed 

fee increases generally. The comments 

came from a wide range of stakeholders, 

including photographers, visual artists, 

several major associations, and others, 

among them the American Association 

of Independent Music (‘‘A2IM’’), 

Association of American Publishers, 

ProQuest, EMI CMG Publishing, 

Graphic Artists Guild, American 

Photographic Artists, and the Copyright 

Alliance. 

Some of the comments focused on 

authors’ financial challenges and their 

difficulty in shouldering higher costs. 

For example, A2IM argued that ‘‘[t]he 

combination of dedicated anti-piracy 

resources and regulatory/judicial 

resources now required of our members 

to defend their businesses are resources 

that our [small and medium sized 

enterprises] simply do not have the 

financial means or administrative means 

to meet.’’ 41 Similarly, the American 

Society of Media Photographers and 

Professional Photographers of America 

claimed that ‘‘proposed fee increases 

would be catastrophic for working 

photographers and would drastically 

reduce the frequency of their copyright 

registrations,’’ which would be 

‘‘devastating to photographers and 

detrimental to the public record, users 

of photographs, and the Copyright 

Office.’’ 42 Some of these comments 

specified the potential harm in raising 

group registration rates for published 

photographs, noting that ‘‘a price 

increase that nearly doubles the cost of 

group registration for photographers 

appears to fly in the face of the 

Copyright Office’s mission to increase 

participation in the registration 

process.’’ 43

After carefully considering its costs 

and the comments in response to the 

NPR, on November 14, 2013, the Office 

submitted a proposed fee schedule to 

Congress. The schedule addressed those 

fees authorized by Section 708(a)(1)–(9), 

including fees for registration and 

recordation, and its recommendations 

are followed in this notice and final 

rule. By statute, Congress has 120 days 

to enact a law disapproving the Office’s 

proposed fee schedule; if it does not, the 

Register may institute the proposed fees 

in a final rule.44 Now that 120 days have 

elapsed without the enactment of 

contrary legislation, the Office is hereby 

providing notice of the new fee 

schedule, to go into effect on May 1, 

2014. This final rule also sets forth fees 

for other additional Office services that 

the Register is authorized to establish 

through its rulemaking authority 

without the need to submit them to 

Congress.45

II. Fee Setting Methodology 

In conducting its fee study, the Office 

considered established accounting 

procedures used by other governmental 

entities, including the Federal 

Accounting Standards Advisory Board’s 

(‘‘FASAB’s’’) guidelines for determining 

the full cost of federal agency program 

activities 46 and the OMB’s Circular A– 

25 Revised: User Charge 47 document 

regarding costing guidelines and 

establishing user fees.48

The Office looked primarily to two 

models to evaluate its costs, namely the 

additive and activity-based methods. 

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49Elasticity is the term used to ‘‘measure[ ] how 

much the quantity demanded responds to a change 

in price.’’ Joshua Gans, Stephen King, Robin 

Stonecash, & N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of 

Economics 90 (5th ed. 2012) (defining price 

elasticity). 

50Number based on the decline of registrations 

after the introduction of new fees in fiscal year 

2007. 51 52 FR 10012 (Mar. 27, 1987). 

The vast majority of costs were assessed 

using the activity-based method. Under 

this approach, the Office calculated how 

much each service cost the Office to 

provide after reviewing both the direct 

and indirect costs in fiscal 2011. Section 

115 filings, which are separately 

administered by the Licensing Division, 

and Section 407 receipts, a low-volume 

service that could not be properly 

considered through the activity-based 

model, were evaluated using an additive 

methodology, which assessed staff time 

devoted to particular tasks. FOIA fees as 

well were reviewed based on the 

additive methodology. 

Unlike earlier cost studies, to better 

capture the costs of its services, the 

Office included some costs that had 

previously been excluded, including 

Office of the General Counsel’s 

regulatory activities, which support fee 

services, and Public Information Office 

time spent answering registrationrelated questions. As in previous 

studies, the study continued to exclude 

costs associated with the policy and 

international programs, mandatory 

deposit program, and programs 

dedicated to providing general 

education and information to the public. 

These exclusions generally relate to staff 

that work primarily in the Office of the 

General Counsel, the Office of Policy 

and International Affairs, the 

Publications Section, the Public 

Information Office, and the Copyright 

Acquisitions Division. 

Against this backdrop, the Office 

undertook a comprehensive review of 

the fees associated with its various 

activities. Most copyright processes are 

labor intensive and staff activity costs 

can be linked to the various fee services. 

Under an activity-based approach, 

personnel resource costs are assigned to 

specific activities. For example, 

mailroom personnel in the Receipt 

Analysis and Control Division are 

assigned to the activity called ‘‘sort 

mail’’ (among others), and a 

determination is made as to the 

proportion of their time spent on that 

activity. In the case of personnel costs 

associated with administration at the 

division level, costs are apportioned 

among the activities within the division. 

Office-wide administrative costs, such 

as the Register’s time and that of her 

administrative staff, are similarly 

apportioned. In this way, the Office can 

capture direct and indirect personnel 

costs associated with each activity. 

The next step in the process is the 

assignment of non-personnel costs. If 

non-personnel costs are associated with 

just one fee service, they were directly 

assigned to that activity. For example, 

the maintenance costs for the eCO 

system, the online copyright registration 

system, are assigned directly to the 

Copyright Technology Office activity 

eCO. Other non-personnel costs 

associated with multiple services were 

allocated proportionately among all 

relevant activities. Once all nonpersonnel costs are assigned to an 

activity, those costs are incorporated 

into the overall costs for the various fee 

services. Using an earlier example, the 

sort mail activity was considered a cost 

for each fee service that is dependent 

upon incoming mail including, for 

example, paper registrations, renewals, 

and document recordations. 

Using these cost determinations as a 

starting point, the Office considered 

statutory fee-setting requirements and 

economic factors, including changes in 

cost due to inflation. Economic factors, 

including price elasticity,49 also played 

a role in setting the Office’s fees. The 

Office considers elasticity when 

assessing whether fee receipts will 

recover the appropriate percentage of 

costs, both individually and 

collectively. The Office has determined 

that a majority of its fees are price 

elastic and that it experiences a 

reduction in demand when fees are 

increased. While external factors, such 

as the economy, also influence filing 

volume, there is a demonstrated inverse 

relationship between the increase in 

fees and the number of claims filed. 

Registration filing and document 

recordation are two of the most heavily 

used services, generating well over 90% 

of the Office’s fee receipts. These two 

categories of fees are quite vulnerable to 

a decline in demand as fees increase. 

For example, in the months following a 

recent fee increase more modest than 

the one proposed here, registration 

filings dropped as much as 17%.50

Therefore, the Office expects a rather 

significant short-term decrease in filings 

upon the implementation of the new 

fees, which should lessen as filers adjust 

to the fees. Recognizing this fact, the 

Office must set fees such that each new 

fee recovers a reasonable percentage of 

the cost of processing the claim but does 

not drive down usership to a point 

where overall receipts decrease. 

Additionally, the Office must ensure 

that fee receipts are sufficient to sustain 

the Office’s operations, taking into 

account fluctuations in filing volumes, 

whether brought on by increased fees 

and/or other economic factors in the 

marketplace. It is important that fee 

receipts bring in enough revenue to 

cover the greater part of the Office’s 

operations annually and sustain a 

reserve fund for use in the event of a 

short-term budgetary shortfall. 

The Office reviewed FOIA fees based 

on the additive methodology and in 

accordance with the OMB Uniform 

Freedom of Information Act Fee 

Schedule and Guidelines.51 The OMB 

guidelines state that agencies such as 

the Office may recoup the full allowable 

direct costs they incur in responding to 

FOIA requests. They also state that 

agencies may establish separate rates for 

searching records and reviewing 

responsive records to determine issues 

such as the applicability of an 

exemption. The Office is thus adopting 

a two-tiered fee structure for searches 

and reviews to reflect the direct costs of 

the service depending upon the level of 

the personnel conducting the search. 

Specifically, the Office is implementing 

one set of fees for searches conducted by 

professional staff and another set of fees 

for searches conducted by 

administrative staff. 

Finally, the Office also took care to 

consider the overall objectives of the 

copyright system 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. From 

past experience, it is certain that any 

increase in fees will result in fewer 

claims, at least temporarily in the time 

frame immediately following 

implementation. It is anticipated, 

however, that, at the fee levels 

proposed, revenues lost due to a 

decrease in the number of claims will be 

offset by revenues generated from the 

higher fees and ultimately result in an 

increase in overall fee receipts. The 

Office estimates that revenues generated 

by the proposed fees will be roughly $28 

million annually. 

Below is a further explanation of the 

Office’s final rule with respect to 

particular fee categories. 

a. Registration, Recordation, and 

Related Services Fees 

The Office is modifying several fees 

relating to registration, recordation, and 

associated services. Some of these 

adjustments merely account for changes 

to costs for existing services and the 

Office’s overall level of cost recovery. In 

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52The Office eliminated Form CO in the summer 

of 2012, thus leaving only two methods for filing 

a standard registration claim. See Discontinuance of 

Form CO in Registration Practices, 77 FR 18705 

(U.S. Copyright Office Mar. 28, 2012); 

Discontinuance of Form CO in Registration 

Practices Correction, 77 FR 29988 (U.S. Copyright 

Office Apr. 9, 2012). 

53For example, claims for LIT were weighted 

more heavily than claims for VA in calculating 

average volume because the Office receives more 

LIT claims than VA claims. 

54See, e.g., Comments of the Ass’n of Am. 

Publishers at 2 (‘‘[T]he pending proposal to nearly 

double current online registration fees would, if 

adopted, lead many [publishers], especially but not 

exclusively the small or non-profit publishers, to 

reevaluate the categories of works currently being 

registered with the objective of reducing their 

registration costs.’’) (emphasis in original). 

55See, e.g., Joint Comments of Am. Soc’y of 

Media Photographers & Prof’l Photographers of Am. 

at 3 (May 14, 2012) (‘‘Although we recognize the 

Copyright Office’s desire to encourage registrants to 

use the eCO registration platform over Form VA, we 

believe that nearly doubling the cost for those adept 

at using Form VA would create a significant 

deterrent to registration in its entirety.’’); Comments 

of ArtistsUndertheDome.org at 2 (May 14, 2012) 

(‘‘The . . . $100 [fee] is unacceptable . . . those 

who use paper filing systems tend to be older, do 

not have access to the internet or fast internet 

services such as broadband, and/or they tend to be 

lower income. . . . These proposed increased fees 

will mean less artists will be able to afford to 

register their copyright(s).’’). 

56Comments of Indep. Film & Television Alliance 

at 1 (Feb. 23, 2012). 

57After proposing this option, the Office 

published an additional Federal Register notice 

explaining that the single author/single claim 

application was available for use on the Office’s 

eCO system. See Single Application Option, 78 FR 

38843 (U.S. Copyright Office June 28, 2013). In the 

past several months, applicants have begun to use 

the new procedure, allowing the Office to assess 

how best to implement the process and assist 

individual authors. 

the case of registration and other core 

Office services, the fees also reflect the 

public’s interest in a robust and accurate 

record of copyright information, 

including authorship, licensing 

information, and public domain status. 

Finally, in some cases, the Office is not 

making a change, as there are certain 

instances where the Office has 

determined that no adjustment was 

required. 

i. Standard Registrations 

• Fee for applications filed online to 

increase from $35 to $55 

• Fee for applications filed on paper to 

increase from $65 to $85 

The Office offers applicants two 

options for filing standard applications: 

(1) Electronic filing through the Office’s 

eCO system; and (2) paper filing using 

a traditional hard copy application.52

Currently, the vast majority of 

applicants use the online filing option; 

the Office receives approximately 91% 

of new copyright claims through eCO. 

Electronic filings cost the Office less to 

process than paper applications. 

Additionally, online applications are 

attractive because, on average, the Office 

requires between two and five months 

to complete most claims filed 

electronically, versus five to eleven 

months to complete most claims filed 

on a paper application. 

In reviewing its registration fees, the 

Office closely examined its costs and 

the degree to which they are recovered 

under the existing fee structure. Using 

an average weighted by claim volume,53

the Office recovered only 65% of the 

cost to process an online claim and 63% 

of the cost to process paper applications 

during fiscal 2011. These figures 

support the Office’s proposal to increase 

fees for both options, in order to recover 

a larger percentage of the Office’s costs. 

It is estimated that the new fees 

(including the single author/single work 

fee discussed below) would recover 

73% of the costs of processing 

electronic claims and 68% of the costs 

of processing paper applications. 

The Office recognizes the value of 

paper applications for those applicants 

who do not have adequate access to the 

Office’s online system or who have 

other reasons to prefer paper filings. At 

the same time, the substantially higher 

costs of processing paper applications as 

compared to the more efficient 

electronic process continues to justify a 

higher fee for paper applications. 

Accordingly, the Office will continue to 

charge different filing fees for these 

applications. For electronic applications 

for standard registration claims, the 

Office is raising the current fee from $35 

to $55. Though this is a $20 increase 

over the current fee, as mentioned 

above, the current fee of $35 was 

lowered from the then-existing fee of 

$45 after the Office’s launch of its eCO 

system in order to incentivize electronic 

filings. The final $55 fee is thus only 

$10 more than the Office’s prior nondiscounted filing fee. Moreover, the $55 

fee is less than the $65 fee that was 

proposed in the NPR, thus responding 

to public comments concerned with the 

amount of the increase for electronic 

filing.54

The Office is increasing the existing 

$65 fee for paper applications to $85. 

This change will provide the Office 

more cost recovery for the inefficiencies 

of paper filings. The Office notes that 

the fee of $85 is significantly lower than 

the $100 fee proposed in the NPR. The 

revised fee accounts for the Office’s 

consideration of public comments 

arguing that a $100 fee was unduly 

harsh.55 After reviewing the comments, 

the Office concluded that, while budget 

and cost considerations mandate an 

increase, the increase should be more 

modest in light of the significant public 

interest in registration, including 

through a paper-based process. 

ii. Single Author, Single Work 

Applications Filed Online 

• Fee for single registration application 

filed online by a single author for a 

single work not made for hire to 

remain at $35 

As discussed above, the Office is 

committed to maintaining an affordable 

copyright registration system and 

understands that works of independent 

creators fuel the nation’s economy and 

are critical to the Library of Congress’ 

collections. Moreover, if individual 

authors do not register and are not part 

of the public database, they—more than 

any other group of copyright owners— 

may be difficult to find. 

In making the decision to add a new 

registration category for individual 

authors, the Office took into account a 

large number of public comments 

advocating for a lower fee. Commenters 

noted, as did the Office, that such 

applications are easier to process, that 

registration provides important 

remedies for the author, and that 

registration benefits the public by 

creating a more robust public record. As 

one commenter noted, ‘‘[Office] 

[s]ervices which facilitate individual 

author-claimants registering a single 

work that is not a work made for hire 

. . . promote and protect authorship 

and potentially sharpen the chain of 

title documentation. . . .’’ 56 Those 

supporting a reduced fee for single 

author/single work claims came from a 

variety of backgrounds, including the 

performing and visual arts. The Office 

believes this option will serve a wide 

range of authors.57

iii. Group Registration, Mask Work, and 

Vessel Hull Fees 

• Fees for registration of a claim in a 

group of contributions to a periodical 

(Form GR/CP) or database updates to 

increase from $65 to $85 

• Fees for group registration of 

published photographs or registration 

of automated databases that 

predominately consist of photographs 

and updates thereto: for paper filings, 

fee will remain at $65 and for 

electronic filings, fee will increase 

from $35 to $55 

• Fees for registration of a claim in a 

group of serials (Form SE/Group) (per 

issue, minimum of two issues) to 

remain at $25 

• Fees for registration of a claim in a 

group of daily newspapers and 

qualified newsletters (Form G/DN) to 

remain at $80 

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58See, e.g., Joint Comments of the Am. Soc’y of 

Media Photographers & Prof’l Photographers of Am. 

(May 4, 2012); Comments of Nat’l Press 

Photographers Ass’n (May 14, 2012). 

59Although both the NPR and the proposed 

schedule submitted to Congress tacitly subsumed 

these electronic group photograph applications 

under ‘‘standard’’ applications filed online, because 

they are not truly ‘‘standard,’’ this final rule 

clarifies their separate status as group applications. 

60The Office is looking at this issue in several 

ways, including through stakeholder meetings, 

technology assessments, and scholarly analysis as 

to the recordation requirements of title 17. 

• Fees for registration of a claim in a 

mask work (Form MW) to increase 

from $105 to $120 

• Fees for registration of a claim in a 

vessel hull (Form D/VH) to increase 

from $220 to $400 

The Office has determined that the 

fees for registration of some but not all 

types of group claims should be 

adjusted. 

The fee to register a claim in a group 

of contributions to a periodical—a 

paper-based process that is laborintensive—will increase from $65 to 

$85. 

In the case of both serials and 

newspapers, where the Office’s cost 

recovery currently appears adequate, the 

Office is not making an adjustment. 

Although the NPR had indicated that 

these two latter categories of fees would 

also be subject to an increase, upon 

further analysis, the Office believes that 

the current fees remain appropriate. 

Similarly, for paper applications for 

groups of published photographs and 

for automated databases that 

predominately consist of photographs 

and updates thereto, the Office is 

making no increase. Despite its initial 

proposal to increase this fee, the Office 

now believes it should remain at $65. 

Comments received in response to the 

Office’s initial fee proposal demonstrate 

that photographers face particular 

challenges with the registration process 

due to the large quantities of works they 

often create in brief periods of time.58 In 

light of these conditions, the Office is 

continuing to study how best to 

facilitate photographers’ registration of 

their works. Thus, while the Office may 

alter the fee structure for registration of 

groups of published photographs in the 

future, the fee for paper applications 

will not change now. 

For electronic applications for these 

types of photograph claims, however, 

the fee will increase from $35 to $55, so 

it is consistent with the fees for other 

electronic applications.59

Finally, the mask work and vessel 

hull registration fees are being increased 

to recover a greater percentage of the 

costs of processing these claims. 

iv. Other Registration Fees 

• Fee for registration of a claim in a 

restored copyright (Form GATT) to 

increase from $65 to $85 

• Fee for registration of a correction or 

amplification to a claim (Form CA) to 

increase from $100 to $130 

After reviewing its costs, the Office 

determined that current fees do not 

offset a sufficient percentage of the 

Office’s costs in accepting registrations 

for paper-based claims, which include 

claims in restored copyrights (Form 

GATT). In addition, it concluded that 

the current fee for filing a registration of 

a correction or amplification to a claim 

(Form CA), another paper-based 

process, was insufficient. Paper-based 

processes are considerably less efficient 

than electronic registration. 

Accordingly, the Office is increasing 

both of these fees. 

v. Renewal Fees 

• Fee for renewal application to 

decrease from $115 to $100 

• Fee for renewal addendum to 

decrease from $220 to $100 

The Office is making these reductions 

due to the unique nature of renewals in 

the history of copyright law and recent 

experiences in reviewing renewal 

documents. Under prior law, certain 

copyright claims had to be renewed 

with the Office in their twenty-eighth 

year of protection to remain valid for the 

remainder of their terms. The current 

Act changed the renewal requirement; a 

renewal is no longer necessary to secure 

the full term of copyright protection. 

Nonetheless, for pre-1978 works, 

renewal registration still offers certain 

benefits for the owner and the public. 

There has been a dramatic decrease in 

renewal registrations over the past seven 

years, likely due to the change in law 

and increased fees associated with 

renewal. In this same time frame, some 

of those who may have benefited from 

filing renewal registrations have instead 

mistakenly attempted to file initial 

claims of registration. Dwindling and 

incorrect renewal registrations diminish 

the public record, thus harming the 

Office’s overall mission to serve as a 

robust repository of copyright 

information. 

The Office’s decision to lower the 

renewal fee to $100 should encourage 

the filing of more renewal claims. 

Similarly, the fee for a renewal 

addendum, an additional requirement 

when standard registration for the work 

was not made during the original term, 

will also be lower. A renewal addendum 

documents the copyright status of a 

work, thus allowing users to know 

whether the work is under copyright 

protection. The Office believes that the 

lower fees for renewals and renewal 

addendums strike the appropriate 

balance between cost recovery and the 

public record. 

vi. Recordation of Documents 

• Fee for recordation of a document to 

remain at $105 

• Fee for recording groups of up to ten 

additional titles associated with that 

document to increase from $30 to $35 

In the NPR, the Office proposed 

increases to its recordation fees to help 

the Office better recover costs in this 

area. The Office’s eCO system permits 

electronic registration of copyright 

claims. By contrast, the Office’s 

recordation system—which is not part 

of eCO—remains a largely paper-driven 

process. Although the Office recovers 

the cost of recording simple documents, 

it has been unable to recover the full 

cost associated with processing more 

substantial documents that include 

multiple titles of copyrighted works. 

The titles, which can number in the 

thousands, must each be individually 

indexed. 

Recordation of copyright transfers and 

other copyright-related documents is a 

voluntary process but critical to 

maintaining a public record of copyright 

ownership. The proposed increase to 

$35 for each ten additional titles 

associated with a recorded document 

will allow for greater cost recovery in 

the case of more complicated filings but 

should not be unduly burdensome for 

filers. At the same time, upon further 

analysis of its costs, the Office has 

determined that it is not necessary to 

change the existing fee of $105 for its 

basic recordation service, where it is 

already achieving full recovery. 

The Office is currently considering 

how to migrate its recordation function 

to an electronic system, a process which 

may require both statutory changes and 

technological upgrades, and will 

continue to evaluate its recordation fees 

as that process moves forward.60

vii. Certification Fees 

• Fee for issuance of additional 

certificate of registration to increase 

from $35 to $40 

• Fee for certification of other Office 

records, including search reports, to 

increase from $165 to $200 per hour 

Based on the cost study, the Office is 

enacting a modest increase to the fee for 

issuance of additional certificates of 

registration. Even though this could 

yield fee receipts slightly above the 

Office’s costs of providing additional 

certificates, the limited increase is 

appropriate under the fee-setting 

principles articulated in OMB’s Circular 

A–25 because the service in question 

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15916 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 56 / Monday, March 24, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

61The Office notes that it is currently engaged in 

efforts to convert its DMCA agent registration 

system to a fully electronic process. The 

introduction of a new system will likely result in 

future adjustment of the fees applicable to 

recordations under Section 512(c)(2). 

62This service is currently described as 

‘‘expedited search report’’ and priced at $445 per 

hour, a number that combines the basic search 

report fee with the surcharge for expedited service. 

In this final rule, the Office has separated the two 

fees, so that the new $300 hourly fee represents 

only the surcharge on top of the new $200 hourly 

fee for the search report. 

benefits only the individual requester 

and any excess fee receipts can be used 

to subsidize other services with lower 

cost recovery. Moreover, at $40, the new 

fee remains reasonable for requesters. 

With respect to other types of Office 

records and search reports, as in past 

cost studies, the Office has determined 

that fee receipts cover less than the 

actual costs of providing certification 

services. The Office recognizes, 

however, that users need to be able to 

obtain certified copies of Office records 

for legal and other purposes. Although 

the Office is proposing an increase in its 

fee for these additional certification 

services to $200 per hour, it has been 

mindful of its duty to balance the goal 

of cost recovery against the need for 

access to reliable public records. It is 

therefore establishing this fee below full 

cost recovery. 

viii. Search Reports and Records 

Retrieval 

• Fee for reference search reports (other 

than Licensing Division reports) to 

increase from $165 to $200 per hour, 

with a two-hour minimum 

• Fee for estimate of search fee to 

increase from $115 to $200 (applied 

against the search charges) 

• Fee for retrieval of in-process or 

completed Copyright Office records or 

other materials to increase from $165 

to $200 for both paper records (per 

hour, one hour minimum) and digital 

records (per hour, half hour 

minimum, quarter hour increments) 

The Office’s imposition of a two hour 

minimum charge in 2009 for search 

reports prepared from Office records 

(other than those prepared from 

Licensing Division records) resulted in 

a substantial increase in cost recovery. 

Nevertheless, as in past cost studies, the 

Office has found that the fee covers only 

a portion of the actual cost of providing 

the reference search service. To achieve 

full cost recovery would render the cost 

too high for the average user as a 

practical matter. A very high fee also 

prejudices users who, for legal reasons, 

are required to have the Office conduct 

a search. 

Accordingly, the Office is 

implementing a fee increase from $165 

to $200 per hour for search reports, 

again with a two hour minimum (other 

than for reports prepared from Licensing 

Division records). To permit additional 

cost recovery, the Office will also 

increase the estimate of search fee— 

which covers the cost of estimating the 

total fees for a search and is credited 

against the hourly search fee—from 

$115 to $200. 

Finally, the fee increase for retrieval 

of in-process or completed Copyright 

Office records or other Copyright Office 

materials is consistent with the Office’s 

need to more fully recover the cost of its 

services. 

ix. Other Services 

• Fee for preregistration of certain 

unpublished works to be increased 

from $115 to $140 

• Fee for recordation of a designation of 

an agent under Section 512(c)(2) to 

remain at $105, with the fee for 

additional names (per group of 1 to 

10) to be increased from $30 to $35 

• Fee for issuance of a receipt for a 

Section 407 deposit to remain at $30 

The fee increases for preregistration of 

certain unpublished works and for 

recordation of additional names (in 

groups of 1 to 10) in conjunction with 

the designation of an agent to receive 

notices of infringement under Section 

512(c)(2) of title 17 (codifying Section 

202 of title II of the Digital Millennium 

Copyright Act (‘‘DMCA’’)) were set forth 

in the NPR and did not elicit any 

comments, so the Office is 

implementing these fee increases as 

proposed. The Office believes that the 

current fees applicable to recording the 

designation of a DMCA agent itself and 

for issuance of a receipt for a Section 

407 deposit are adequate, so these will 

remain unchanged.61

b. Special Services Fees 

i. Special Handling 

• Fee for special handling of 

registration claims to increase from 

$760 to $800, with the handling fee 

for each non-special handling claim 

using the same deposit to remain at 

$50 

• Fee for special handling of document 

recordation to increase from $480 to 

$550 

• Fee for special handling of a search 

report to increase from $280 to $300 

per hour (for up to two hours) 62

• Fee for special handling of retrieval, 

certification, and copying requests to 

increase from $265 to $305 per hour 

The surcharges assessed for obtaining 

expedited registration, recordation and 

other services reflect a premium 

payment for the value of the expedited 

service to the individual requester. The 

Office believes that increases to these 

fees are both reasonable and justified in 

light of the diversion of Office resources 

that is required to provide this type of 

specialized handling for individual 

customers. 

ii. Secure Test Processing 

• Fee for secure test processing to 

increase from $165 to $250 per staff 

member per hour 

The Office provides specialized 

services for secure test processing, 

specifically a private review of the full 

deposit of a secure test that involves a 

comparison of the deposit with 

identifying material that does not 

disclose confidential content. The Office 

is implementing the above fee increase 

based on the cost of supplying this 

service. The charge will be applied per 

staff member because two or more staff 

members may be required to expedite 

the review of the deposits. 

iii. Requests for Reconsideration of 

Rejections of Claims (Appeals) 

• Fee for first request for 

reconsideration to remain at $250 (but 

the option of adding claims beyond 

those in the subject registration is no 

longer available) 

• Fee for second request for 

reconsideration to remain at $500 (but 

the option of adding claims beyond 

those in the subject registration is no 

longer available) 

The Office is not changing the fees for 

the first and second reconsideration of 

a single claim, in part because the Office 

recognizes that an increase in fees may 

impede a claimant from pursuing 

administrative review of a rejected 

claim. The Office is, however, 

eliminating its practice of allowing 

applicants to include multiple related 

claims that were not covered by a single 

application in a single request for 

reconsideration. Previously, the Office 

allowed applicants to consolidate 

requests to reconsider works from 

different applications if the works were 

related. It is not, however, necessarily 

more efficient to review multiple 

claims, because each claim must still be 

analyzed separately. Thus, the Office is 

making a change to the process so that 

the fee for a request for reconsideration 

will cover only the work or works 

included in a single original claim for 

registration. 

iv. Deposit Copies 

• Fee for handling an extra deposit copy 

for certification to increase from $45 

to $50 

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• Fee for full-term retention of a 

published deposit to increase from 

$470 to $540 

The Office believes that fees for 

handling extra deposit copies for 

certification and for full-term retention 

of published deposits should be 

increased to reflect the specialized 

nature of these services, which benefit 

individual customers. 

v. Copying Fees 

• Fee for black and white photocopies 

on 81⁄2 x 11 paper to remain at $0.50 

per page with a $12 minimum 

• Fee for black and white photocopies 

on 11 x 17 paper to remain at $1 per 

page with a $12 minimum 

• Fee for color photocopies on 81⁄2 x 11 

paper to remain at $2 per page with 

a $12 minimum 

• Fee for color photocopies on 11 x 17 

paper to remain at $4 per page with 

a $12 minimum 

• Fee for copies of audiocassettes and 

videocassettes to remain at $75 for the 

first 30 minutes and at $20 for each 

additional fifteen-minute increment 

• Fee for copies of CDs or DVDs to be 

reduced from $100 to $30 

• Fee for new service of copying to flash 

drives to be established at $30 

• Fee for copying to unsupported 

formats and other copying of 

materials by outside providers to be at 

cost of provider 

Based upon consultation with those 

who provide copying services, the 

Office finds that it is advisable to 

maintain the current fees for most 

copying services. The Office is, 

however, reducing the fee for copying 

CDs and DVDs due to lower copying 

costs. Additionally, the fee for copying 

to formats unsupported by the Office 

will be what the provider charges the 

Copyright Office. The Office no longer 

directly handles photographs, slides, zip 

drives, and floppy discs, so the fees for 

copying in these formats will be 

assessed at the cost of the provider. 

Similarly, in the case of copies that the 

Office must request from the Library of 

Congress’s Duplication Services, the 

Office will pass along the actual cost to 

the customer. 

vi. Other Special Services Fees 

• Fee for service charge for deposit 

account overdraft to increase from 

$165 to $250 

• Fee for service charge for dishonored 

deposit account replenishment check 

to increase from $85 to $100 

• Fee for service charge for an 

uncollectible or non-negotiable 

payment to increase from $25 to $30 

• Fee for service charge for Federal 

Express mailing to increase from $40 

to $45 

• Fee for notice to libraries and archives 

to remain at $50, with the fee for each 

additional title to remain at $20 

• Fee for the service charge for delivery 

of documents via facsimile (per page, 

seven-page maximum) to remain at $1 

per page 

The Office finds that it is appropriate 

to raise fees for some other special 

services in order to improve cost 

recovery. Specifically, after reviewing 

the costs of the above services, the 

Office has determined these fees should 

be raised except for fees for notices to 

libraries and archives and those for 

facsimile delivery services. 

c. Licensing Division Fees 

i. Recordation of a Notice of Intention 

To Make and Distribute Phonorecords 

Under Section 115 

• Fee for filing a basic notice with a 

single title to increase from $60 to $75 

• Fee for paper filing of additional titles 

to remain at $20 per set of ten titles 

• Fee for electronic filing of additional 

titles to be established at $10 per set 

of one hundred titles 

With the rise of digital services 

offering expansive catalogs of music, 

many more users seek to file notices of 

intent to avail themselves of the Section 

115 statutory license when they cannot 

identify or locate the owners of 

particular musical works in Office 

records. In 2009, the Office responded 

by adjusting its Section 115 filing fees 

to accommodate the submission of 

multiple titles at the same time. More 

recently, the Office has initiated a test 

of an electronic filing option to allow for 

more cost-effective processing of 

digitally submitted notices with 

multiple titles. While the new fees 

reflect the higher costs of handling 

single-title notices, they also take into 

consideration the cost savings 

associated with electronic submission of 

multiple titles by adopting a 

substantially lower per-title fee for such 

submissions. 

ii. Recordation of Licensing Agreements 

and Contracts 

• Filing fee for recordation of a 

licensing agreement pursuant to 17 

U.S.C. 118 to remain at $140 

• Fee for recordation of certain 

contracts by cable television systems 

located outside the forty-eight 

contiguous states pursuant to 17 

U.S.C. 111 to remain at $50 

The Office determined that it was not 

necessary to increase the fees for 

recordation of a licensing agreement 

under Section 118 or for recordation of 

certain contracts by cable systems as 

provided under Section 111, so these 

fees will remain at their current levels. 

iii. Other Licensing Division Fees 

• Fee for statement of account 

amendment (cable television systems 

and satellite carriers, 17 U.S.C. 111 

and 119; digital audio recording 

devices or media, 17 U.S.C. 1003) to 

increase from $100 to $150 

• Fee for notice of digital transmission 

of sound recording (Sections 112, 114) 

to increase from $25 to $40 

• Fee for amended notice of digital 

transmission of sound recording to 

increase from $25 to $40 

• Fee for search report prepared from 

Licensing Division records to increase 

from $165 to $200 per hour, with a 

one-hour minimum 

For search reports prepared from 

Licensing Division records, while the 

proposed hourly fee adjustment tracks 

that for general Copyright Office search 

reports, the Office believes that a one 

hour (rather than two hour) minimum is 

sufficient in the case of Licensing 

records. A number of Licensing Division 

searches are purely factual, for example, 

due diligence searches to verify that 

mandatory filings were made. Such 

searches often can be conducted fairly 

quickly and thus the Office has 

determined that a one-hour minimum is 

sufficient. 

The fee increases for certain other 

Licensing Division services listed above 

were proposed in the NPR and received 

no negative comments. The Office is 

therefore implementing these increases 

to achieve greater cost recovery. 

d. FOIA Services Fees 

• Fee for a search prepared by 

administrative staff (per quarter hour 

increment with a half hour minimum) 

to change from $16.25 to $7.50 

• Fee for a search prepared by 

professional staff (per quarter hour 

increment with a half hour minimum) 

to change from $16.25 to $17.50 

• Fee for a review of documents 

performed by administrative staff, per 

quarter hour, to be assessed at $7.50 

an hour 

• Fee for a review of documents 

performed by professional staff, per 

quarter hour, to be assessed at $17.50 

an hour 

As explained above, the Office looked 

to OMB guidelines when setting its fees 

for FOIA requests. Currently, the Office 

charges an hourly fee for searches 

related to such requests. The Office last 

adjusted its FOIA fees in 1999. 

The Office is implementing a fee 

adjustment and a new schedule for 

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63 In this regard, the Office notes that it is revising 

the language of the provision concerning the 

applicability of FOIA review fees (currently codified at 37 CFR 203.6(b)(7)) to more closely track 

the language of the FOIA statute. 

assessing FOIA search fees and 

reviewing the documents. OMB 

guidelines allow agencies to set an 

average fee based on the individuals 

processing FOIA requests where there 

are homogeneous classes of personnel 

used to perform the required service 

(i.e., identifiable classes of personnel 

that have like characteristics—in this 

case, all professional or all 

administrative staff). The Office thus is 

establishing two sets of review and 

search fees: (1) One fee for those 

services conducted at the technical or 

administrative level; and (2) a higher fee 

for those services conducted at the 

professional level. These fees will be 

charged in quarter hour increments, 

with a minimum of a half hour for a 

search to account for overhead. The 

Office thus will charge $7.50 per quarter 

hour increment for searches performed 

by administrative staff, with a minimum 

fee of $15 to cover the first half hour. 

For searches performed by professional 

staff, the Office will assess a fee of 

$17.50 per quarter hour increment, with 

a minimum fee of $35. The same fee 

structure will apply to review services, 

but with no minimum fee.63

Finally, as noted above, the Office is 

revising two provisions of 37 CFR 

203.6(b) to eliminate FOIA-specific fees 

for obtaining copies of registration 

certificates and for certification services 

(currently referenced in 37 CFR 

203.6(b)(1) and (4), respectively). 

Pursuant to 37 CFR 203.6(a), the fees for 

these services, which involve the public 

records of the Copyright Office, are to be 

assessed in accordance with the Office’s 

general fee schedule. The Office 

believes these changes will help to 

avoid confusion about the applicable fee 

when such services are provided in 

connection with a FOIA request. 

List of Subjects 

37 CFR Part 201 

Copyright, General provisions. 

37 CFR Part 203 

Copyright, Freedom of Information 

Act: Policies and Procedures. 

Final Rule 

In consideration of the foregoing, 

under the authority of 17 U.S.C. 702, the 

U.S. Copyright Office amends 37 CFR 

chapter II as follows: 

CHAPTER II—U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE, 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

■ 1. The heading of chapter II is revised 

to read as set forth above. 

PART 201—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

■ 2. The authority citation for part 201 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702. 

■ 3. Revise § 201.3(c), (d), and (e) to read 

as follows: 

§ 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 the following fees 

for these services: 

Registration, recordation and related services Fees 

($) 

(1) Registration of a standard claim in an original work of authorship: 

Electronic filing: 

(i) Single author, same claimant, one work, not for hire ...................................................................................................... 35 

(ii) All other filings .................................................................................................................................................................. 55 

Paper Filing (Forms PA, SR, TX, VA, SE, SR) ........................................................................................................................... 85 

(2) Registration of a claim in a group of contributions to periodicals (Form GR/CP) or database updates ...................................... 85 

(3) Registration for a group of published photographs, or an automated database that predominately consists of photographs 

and updates thereto: 

(i) Electronic filing ......................................................................................................................................................................... 55 

(ii) Paper filing .............................................................................................................................................................................. 65 

(4) Registration of a renewal claim (Form RE): 

(i) Claim without addendum ......................................................................................................................................................... 100 

(ii) Addendum (in addition to the fee for the claim) ..................................................................................................................... 100 

(5) Registration of a claim in a group of serials (Form SE/Group) (per issue, minimum 2 issues) ................................................... 25 

(6) Registration of a claim in a group of daily newspapers and qualified newsletters (Form G/DN) ................................................. 80 

(7) Registration of a claim in a restored copyright (Form GATT) ....................................................................................................... 85 

(8) Preregistration of certain unpublished works ................................................................................................................................. 140 

(9) Registration of a correction or amplification to a claim (Form CA) ............................................................................................... 130 

(10) Registration of a claim in a mask work (Form MW) .................................................................................................................... 120 

(11) Registration of a claim in a vessel hull (Form D/VH) .................................................................................................................. 400 

(12) Provision of an additional certificate of registration ..................................................................................................................... 40 

(13) Certification of other Copyright Office records, including search reports (per hour) .................................................................. 200 

(14) Search report prepared from official records other than Licensing Division records (per hour, 2 hour minimum) .................... 200 

Estimate of search fee (credited to search fee) ........................................................................................................................... 200 

(15) Retrieval of in-process or completed Copyright Office records or other Copyright Office materials: 

(i) Retrieval of paper records (per hour, 1 hour minimum) .......................................................................................................... 200 

(ii) Retrieval of digital records (per hour, half hour minimum, quarter hour increments) ............................................................ 200 

(16) Recordation of document, including a notice of intention to enforce (single title) ...................................................................... 105 

Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 titles) ................................................................................................................................. 35 

(17) Recordation of a designation of agent to receive notification of claimed infringements under § 512(c)(2) ................................ 105 

Additional names (per group of 1 to 10) ...................................................................................................................................... 35 

(18) Issuance of a receipt for a § 407 deposit .................................................................................................................................... 30 

(d) Special Service Fees. The 

Copyright Office has established the 

following fees for special services of the 

Office: 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 56 / Monday, March 24, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 15919 

Special services Fees 

($) 

(1) Service charge for deposit account overdraft .............................................................................................................................. 250 

(2) Service charge for dishonored deposit account replenishment check ........................................................................................ 100 

(3) Service charge for an uncollectible or non-negotiable payment ................................................................................................. 30 

(4) Appeals: 

(i) First appeal (per claim) .......................................................................................................................................................... 250 

(ii) Second appeal (per claim) .................................................................................................................................................... 500 

(5) Secure test processing charge (per staff member per hour) ...................................................................................................... 250 

(6) Copying of Copyright Office records by staff: 

Photocopy (black & white, 81⁄2 x 11) (per page, minimum: $12) .............................................................................................. 0 .50 

Photocopy (black & white, 11 x 17) (per page, minimum: $12) ................................................................................................ 1 

Photocopy (color, 81⁄2 x 11) (per page, minimum: $12) ............................................................................................................ 2 

Photocopy (color, 11 x 17) (per page, minimum: $12) .............................................................................................................. 4 

Audiocassette (first 30 minutes) ................................................................................................................................................. 75 

Additional 15 minute increments ......................................................................................................................................... 20 

Videocassette (first 30 minutes) ................................................................................................................................................. 75 

Additional 15 minute increments ......................................................................................................................................... 20 

CD or DVD ................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 

Flash drive .................................................................................................................................................................................. 30 

Unsupported formats and other copying of materials by outside providers, at cost of provider ............................................... Variable . 

(7) Special handling fee for a claim .................................................................................................................................................. 800 

Handling fee for each non-special handling claim using the same deposit .............................................................................. 50 

(8) Special handling fee for recordation of a document .................................................................................................................... 550 

(9) Handling fee for extra deposit copy for certification .................................................................................................................... 50 

(10) Full-term retention of a published deposit ................................................................................................................................. 540 

(11) Special handling of search report, per hour (for up to 2 hours) ................................................................................................ 300 

Additional hours of searching, per hour ..................................................................................................................................... 500 

(12) Special handling of retrieval, certification, and copying, per hour ............................................................................................. 305 

(13) Notice to libraries and archives ................................................................................................................................................. 50 

Each additional title .................................................................................................................................................................... 20 

(14) Service charge for Federal Express mailing .............................................................................................................................. 45 

(15) Service charge for delivery of documents via facsimile (per page, 7 page maximum) ............................................................ 1 

(e) Licensing Division service fees. 

The Copyright Office has established the 

following fees for specific services of the 

Licensing Division: 

Licensing division services Fees 

($) 

(1) Recordation of a notice of intention to make and distribute phonorecords (17 U.S.C. 115) ........................................................ 75 

Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 titles) (paper filing) ........................................................................................................... 20 

Additional titles (per group of 1 to 100 titles) (online filing) ......................................................................................................... 10 

(2) Statement of account amendment (cable television systems and satellite carriers, 17 U.S.C. 111 and 119; digital audio recording devices or media, 17 U.S.C. 1003) .................................................................................................................................... 150 

(3) Recordation of a licensing agreement for use of certain works in connection with noncommercial broadcasting (17 U.S.C. 

118) .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 140 

(4) Recordation of certain contracts by cable TV systems located outside the 48 contiguous states ............................................... 50 

(5) Notice of digital transmission of sound recording (17 U.S.C. 112, 114) ....................................................................................... 40 

Amended notice of digital transmission of sound recording ........................................................................................................ 40 

(6) 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 

(7) Processing of a statement of account based on secondary transmissions of primary transmissions pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 

119 or 122 ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 725 

(8) Search report prepared from Licensing Division records (per hour, 1 hour minimum) ................................................................ 200 

* * * * * 

PART 203—FREEDOM OF 

INFORMATION ACT: POLICIES AND 

PROCEDURES 

■ 4. The authority citation for part 203 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702; 5 U.S.C. 552, as 

amended. 

■ 5. Revise § 203.6(b) to read as follows: 

§ 203.6 Schedule of fees and methods of 

payment for services rendered. 

* * * * * 

(b) FOIA requests. In responding to 

requests under this part the following 

fees shall be assessed, unless a waiver 

or reduction in fees has been granted 

pursuant to paragraph (d) of this 

section: 

(1) For each quarter hour spent by 

administrative staff in searching for a 

requested record, $7.50; for each quarter 

hour spent by professional staff in 

searching for a requested record, $17.50, 

with a half hour minimum in both 

cases. No search fee shall be assessed 

with respect to requests by educational 

institutions, non-commercial scientific 

institutions, and representatives of the 

news media. Search fees shall be 

assessed with respect to all other 

requests, subject to the limitations of 

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15920 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 56 / Monday, March 24, 2014 / Rules and Regulations 

paragraph (c) of this section. Fees may 

be assessed for time spent searching 

even if the search fails to locate any 

responsive records or where the records 

located are subsequently determined to 

be entirely exempt from disclosure. 

(2) For computer searches of records, 

which may be undertaken through the 

use of existing programing, the actual 

direct costs of conducting the search 

including the cost of operating a central 

processing unit for that portion of 

operating time that is directly 

attributable to searching for records 

responsive to a request, as well as the 

direct costs of operator/programmer 

salary apportionable to search (at no less 

than $65 per hour or fraction thereof). 

(3) For each quarter hour spent by 

administrative staff in reviewing a 

requested record, $7.50; for each quarter 

hour spent by professional staff in 

reviewing a requested record, $17.50, 

with no minimum. No review fee shall 

be assessed with respect to requests by 

educational institutions, noncommercial scientific institutions, and 

representatives of the news media. 

Review fees shall be assessed with 

respect to all other requests, subject to 

the limitations of paragraph (c) of this 

section. Review fees shall include only 

the direct costs incurred during the 

initial examination of a document for 

the purposes of determining whether 

the documents must be disclosed and 

for the purposes of withholding any 

portions exempt from disclosure. No 

review fee will be charged for time 

spent in resolving issues of law or 

policy that may be raised in the course 

of processing a request. 

(4) For copies of all other Copyright 

Office records not otherwise provided 

for in this section, a minimum fee of 

$15.00 for up to 15 pages and $.50 per 

page over 15. 

(5) Other costs incurred by the 

Copyright Office in fulfilling a request 

will be chargeable at the actual cost to 

the Office. 

* * * * * 

Dated: March 17, 2014. 

Maria A. Pallante, 

Register of Copyrights. 

Approved by: 

James H. Billington, 

Librarian of Congress. 

[FR Doc. 2014–06293 Filed 3–21–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1410–30–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

38 CFR Part 21 

RIN 2900–AO87 

Vocational Rehabilitation and 

Employment Program: Changes 

Related to the Honoring America’s 

Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune 

Families Act of 2012 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) is amending its regulation 

to reflect a change made by the 

Honoring America’s Veterans and 

Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 

2012. If a veteran has been displaced as 

the result of a natural or other disaster 

while being paid an allowance, referred 

to as an employment adjustment 

allowance, this Act allows the extension 

of the allowance. This amendment is 

necessary to conform the regulation to 

the statutory provision. 

DATES: Effective Date: This final rule is 

effective March 24, 2014. 

Applicability Date: In accordance 

with the amended statutory provision of 

38 U.S.C. 3108(a)(2), this final rule 

pertains to all awards of employment 

adjustment allowance processed on or 

after August 6, 2013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: C.J. 

Riley, Policy Analyst, Vocational 

Rehabilitation and Employment Service 

(28), Veterans Benefits Administration, 

Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 

Vermont Ave. NW., Washington, DC 

20420, (202) 461–9600. (This is not a 

toll-free telephone number.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

3108 of 38 U.S.C. establishes the criteria 

for entitlement to allowances payable 

under 38 U.S.C. chapter 31. Section 

3108(a)(2) provides for payment of a 

subsistence allowance for any veteran 

who has been rehabilitated to the point 

of employability for two months while 

the veteran is satisfactorily following a 

Vocational Rehabilitation and 

Employment (VR&E) program of 

employment services. This statutory 

provision regarding a veteran’s 

entitlement to such subsistence 

allowance, referred to as an employment 

adjustment allowance (EAA), is 

implemented by 38 CFR 21.268. 

Section 701(b) of Public Law 112–154, 

Honoring America’s Veterans and 

Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 

2012, amended 38 U.S.C. 3108(a)(2) by 

providing that VA may extend the 

payment of an EAA up to an additional 

two months while the veteran is 

satisfactorily following a VR&E program 

of employment services if the veteran 

has been displaced as a result of a 

natural or other disaster while being 

paid an EAA. To make it clear that a 

veteran displaced as a result of a natural 

or other disaster may receive up to an 

additional two months of the EAA, we 

are amending our regulation to include 

this requirement. VA is implementing 

the statutory amendment in 38 CFR 

21.268 by re-designating current 

paragraph (f), ‘‘Employment adjustment 

allowance not charged against 

entitlement.’’, as new paragraph (g), and 

adding a new paragraph (f), ‘‘Special 

situations.’’ We will start paying this 

additional two months of EAA 

beginning August 6, 2013, when the law 

took effect. We note the effective date of 

August 6, 2013, in new paragraph (f). In 

addition, we are adding an authority 

citation to the end of the paragraph for 

clarification. 

Administrative Procedure Act 

The Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

finds there is good cause under the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) and 

(d)(3) to publish this rule without prior 

opportunity for public comment and 

with an immediate effective date. The 

regulatory change made by this rule 

reflects a change in statute that VA is 

adopting directly, without change, into 

VA’s regulations. By statute, Congress is 

allowing up to an additional two 

months of a special allowance for 

veterans following a program of 

employment services who have been 

displaced as a result of a natural 

disaster. The regulatory change does not 

involve interpretation of this statutory 

provision. Consequently, opportunity 

for public comment is unnecessary. The 

statutory change was enacted on August 

6, 2012, made effective on August 6, 

2013. Due to the above considerations, 

VA is issuing this rule as a final rule, 

effective immediately upon publication. 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

direct agencies to assess the costs and 

benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, when regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits 

(including potential economic, 

environmental, public health and safety 

effects, and other advantages; 

distributive impacts; and equity). 

Executive Order 13563 (Improving 

Regulation and Regulatory Review) 

emphasizes the importance of 

quantifying both costs and benefits, 

reducing costs, harmonizing rules, and 

promoting flexibility. Executive Order 

12866 (Regulatory Planning and 

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