US Copyright Office raising registration fees 43% — creators warned access to Copyright Claims Board will narrow
The US Copyright Office is implementing a 43% fee increase on copyright registration filings. Independent creator organizations warn the increase will effectively shut smaller creators out of the Copyright Claims Board — the lower-cost alternative to federal court for infringement cases — since registration is a prerequisite for filing a CCB claim. The higher threshold makes it economically unviable for individual creators to register large volumes of content, shifting enforcement leverage back toward major rights holders and catalog owners who register in bulk at institutional rates.
THE BREAKDOWN
Creators releasing significant volumes of content — video, music, photography — need to register work proactively, before infringement occurs. An unregistered copyright still exists, but the remedies available are narrower and the CCB is locked out entirely. For sports and gaming creators whose content gets clipped and reposted at scale, this fee increase raises the cost of protecting a catalog. Build registration into any contract that includes IP ownership clauses and treat it as an explicit line-item cost, not an assumption.
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