Copyright Office Fees: Registration, Recordation and Related Services; Special Services; Licensing Division Services; FOIA Services, 15910-15920 [2014-06293]

Agencies

• Library of Congress
• U.S. Copyright Office

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 56 (Monday, March 24, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 15910-15920]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-06293]


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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.

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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 FOIA-related 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, 
Attorney-Advisor, 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\
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    \1\ See 17 U.S.C. 708.
    \2\ See 17 U.S.C. 708(b).
    \3\ Fees, 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.
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    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\
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    \4\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b). The Register sent the proposed schedule to 
Congress on November 14, 2013. It is available at https://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 https://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 https://www.copyright.gov/docs/newfees/.
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    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

[[Page 15911]]

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\
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    \6\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(1).
    \7\ Id. section 708(b)(2).
    \8\ Id. section 708(b)(4).
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    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.
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    \9\ Copyright Office Fees, 77 FR 3506 (Jan. 24, 2012).
    \10\ The 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.''
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    The Office received ten comments in response to the initial 
inquiry.\11\ A majority of the comments supported special consideration 
for author-claimants registering a single work. Other comments 
discussed potential additional services.\12\
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    \11\ The comments can be viewed on the Copyright Office Web site 
at https://www.copyright.gov/docs/newfees/.
    \12\ While 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.
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    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.
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    \13\ Copyright Office Fees, 77 FR 18742 (Mar. 28, 2012).
    \14\ Some 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.
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    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\
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    \16\ Id. 18743.
    \17\ Id.
    \18\ Id.
    \19\ Id.
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    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\
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    \20\ Id.
    \21\ Id. 18744.
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    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\
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    \22\ Id.
    \23\ Id.
    \24\ Id.
    \25\ Id.
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    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\
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    \26\ Id.
    \27\ Id.
    \28\ Id.
    \29\ Id.
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    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

[[Page 15912]]

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\
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    \30\ Id.
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    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\
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    \31\ Id. 18745.
    \32\ Id.
    \33\ Id.
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    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\
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    \34\ 17 U.S.C. 115(b).
    \35\ 77 FR at 18745.
    \36\ Id. 18745-46.
    \37\ Id. 18746.
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    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\
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    \38\ Id.
    \39\ Id.
    \40\ Id.
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    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\
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    \41\ Comments 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.
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    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\
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    \44\ 17 U.S.C. 708(b)(5).
    \45\ See 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.
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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\
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    \46\ This 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), 
https://www.fasab.gov/pdffiles/sffas-4.pdf.
    \47\ See Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Circular No. A-25 Revised, 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a025.
    \48\ Among 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.
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    The Office looked primarily to two models to evaluate its costs, 
namely the additive and activity-based methods.

[[Page 15913]]

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 registration-related 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 non-personnel 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.
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    \49\ Elasticity 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).
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    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.
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    \50\ Number based on the decline of registrations after the 
introduction of new fees in fiscal year 2007.
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    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.
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    \51\ 52 FR 10012 (Mar. 27, 1987).
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    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

[[Page 15914]]

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.
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    \52\ The 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).
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    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \53\ For 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 non-
discounted 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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \54\ See, 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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \55\ See, 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).'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \56\ Comments of Indep. Film & Television Alliance at 1 (Feb. 
23, 2012).
    \57\ After 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

[[Page 15915]]

 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 labor-intensive--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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \58\ See, 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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \59\ Although 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \60\ The 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

[[Page 15916]]

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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \61\ The 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).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \62\ This 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 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

[[Page 15917]]

 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 8\1/2\ 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 8\1/2\ 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

[[Page 15918]]

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\

    \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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

0
1. The heading of chapter II is revised to read as set forth above.

PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS

0
2. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.


0
3. Revise Sec.  201.3(c), (d), and (e) to read as follows:


Sec.  201.3  Fees for registration, recordation, and related services, 
special services, and services performed by the Licensing Division.

* * * * *
    (c) Registration, recordation, and related service fees. The 
Copyright Office has established 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               35
         for hire.......................................
        (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               85
 to periodicals (Form GR/CP) or database updates........
(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               25
 SE/Group) (per issue, minimum 2 issues)................
(6) Registration of a claim in a group of daily                       80
 newspapers and qualified newsletters (Form G/DN).......
(7) Registration of a claim in a restored copyright                   85
 (Form GATT)............................................
(8) Preregistration of certain unpublished works........             140
(9) Registration of a correction or amplification to a               130
 claim (Form CA)........................................
(10) Registration of a claim in a mask work (Form MW)...             120
(11) Registration of a claim in a vessel hull (Form D/               400
 VH)....................................................
(12) Provision of an additional certificate of                        40
 registration...........................................
(13) Certification of other Copyright Office records,                200
 including search reports (per hour)....................
(14) Search report prepared from official records other              200
 than Licensing Division records (per hour, 2 hour
 minimum)...............................................
    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                 200
     minimum)...........................................
    (ii) Retrieval of digital records (per hour, half                200
     hour minimum, quarter hour increments).............
(16) Recordation of document, including a notice of                  105
 intention to enforce (single title)....................
    Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 titles).....              35
(17) Recordation of a designation of agent to receive                105
 notification of claimed infringements under Sec.
 512(c)(2)..............................................
    Additional names (per group of 1 to 10).............              35
(18) Issuance of a receipt for a Sec.   407 deposit.....              30
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (d) Special Service Fees. The Copyright Office has established the 
following fees for special services of the Office:

[[Page 15919]]



------------------------------------------------------------------------
                    Special services                         Fees  ($)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Service charge for deposit account overdraft........          250
(2) Service charge for dishonored deposit account                 100
 replenishment check....................................
(3) Service charge for an uncollectible or non-                    30
 negotiable payment.....................................
(4) Appeals:
    (i) First appeal (per claim)........................          250
    (ii) Second appeal (per claim)......................          500
(5) Secure test processing charge (per staff member per           250
 hour)..................................................
(6) Copying of Copyright Office records by staff:
    Photocopy (black & white, 8\1/2\ x 11) (per page,               0.50
     minimum: $12)......................................
    Photocopy (black & white, 11 x 17) (per page,                   1
     minimum: $12)......................................
    Photocopy (color, 8\1/2\ x 11) (per page, minimum:              2
     $12)...............................................
    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       Variable.
     by outside providers, at cost of provider..........
(7) Special handling fee for a claim....................          800
    Handling fee for each non-special handling claim               50
     using the same deposit.............................
(8) Special handling fee for recordation of a document..          550
(9) Handling fee for extra deposit copy for                        50
 certification..........................................
(10) Full-term retention of a published deposit.........          540
(11) Special handling of search report, per hour (for up          300
 to 2 hours)............................................
    Additional hours of searching, per hour.............          500
(12) Special handling of retrieval, certification, and            305
 copying, per hour......................................
(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                   1
 facsimile (per page, 7 page maximum)...................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (e) Licensing Division service fees. The Copyright Office has 
established the following fees for specific services of the Licensing 
Division:

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Licensing division services                   Fees  ($)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Recordation of a notice of intention to make and                  75
 distribute phonorecords (17 U.S.C. 115)................
    Additional titles (per group of 1 to 10 titles)                   20
     (paper filing).....................................
    Additional titles (per group of 1 to 100 titles)                  10
     (online filing)....................................
(2) Statement of account amendment (cable television                 150
 systems and satellite carriers, 17 U.S.C. 111 and 119;
 digital audio recording devices or media, 17 U.S.C.
 1003)..................................................
(3) Recordation of a licensing agreement for use of                  140
 certain works in connection with noncommercial
 broadcasting (17 U.S.C. 118)...........................
(4) Recordation of certain contracts by cable TV systems              50
 located outside the 48 contiguous states...............
(5) Notice of digital transmission of sound recording                 40
 (17 U.S.C. 112, 114)...................................
    Amended notice of digital transmission of sound                   40
     recording..........................................
(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                    725
 secondary transmissions of primary transmissions
 pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 119 or 122.......................
(8) Search report prepared from Licensing Division                   200
 records (per hour, 1 hour minimum).....................
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

PART 203--FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT: POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

0
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.


0
5. Revise Sec.  203.6(b) to read as follows:


Sec.  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

[[Page 15920]]

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, non-commercial 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