While giving billions in subsidies to oil companies, Congress thinks artists should pay the bill for effective, basic, Constitutionally-mandated copyright protections.
The United States Copyright Office announced a 57% increase in the standard online registration fee, from $35 to $55, effective May 1, 2014. See the entire schedule in the Federal Register (pdf)
"While a number of fees, including the fee for standard registrations, have increased to permit the Office to more fully recoup its expenses, some fees have decreased and others remain the same. The Office has also instituted a separate, lower fee for single-author, single-work registration claims." USCO NewsNet Issue 535, March 24, 2014 (emphasis ours)
The "lower fee for single-author, single-work registration claims" is $35. How many single works do YOU create in a year?
"…to more fully recoup its expenses…"
Are artists not citizens AND taxpayers? It seems unconscionable that in this long-term, difficult economic climate, USCO can justify a 57% fee increase for citizens to be effectively protected by a fundamental Constitutional right. We believe this pressure came from Congress, and, honestly, we feel Congress has very little understanding of how copyright is an essential foundation to the business model of the vast majority of artists, most of whom work several jobs in order to survive. Must they pay additional taxes for this guaranteed protection while wildly successful commercial entities receive subsidies? The arts are clearly near or at the bottom of priorities in Washington.
What you should do now
One available option is to register all your unregistered work before May 1. You MUST register to get any meaningful protection under the law.
As Jack and Ed of The Copyright Zone have always said,
"REGISTER, REGISTER, REGISTER"!
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Photographers, and some other types of creators, do have an advantage to be able to register a number of works during one fee session, however it must be done correctly or the registration will be void. The Copyright Office issues guidelines, however significant questions arise during the registration process for multiple submissions and you can easily become confused. Getting help by phone is an exercise in frustration - phone lines seem continually busy.
Jack and Ed offer a comphrehensive tutorial on Kelby Training (modest fee) for photographers that should cover these questions.
The American Society of Media Photographers have a copyright tutorial page and a specific guide for online registration. And this link (not ASMP) addresses registration for bloggers.
If you know of resources covering other disciplines or special cases, tweet them using "#copyreg". Beware, though, actual legal advice is the best.
Now get busy and register!
CORRECTION: A previous version of this post mentioned using "#©reg" to tweet registration tips. "©" is not recognized in hashtag lexicon, so the proper hashtag, registered at hashtags.org, is "#copyreg". Sorry for the error.
