US Copyright Office Wants to Increase Cost to Register Photos by 55%; PetaPixel, May 5, 2026

 JARON SCHNEIDER, PetaPixel; US Copyright Office Wants to Increase Cost to Register Photos by 55%

"The US Copyright Office has proposed a substantial increase to the cost to register photos, citing rising costs and inflation. It argues the cost is still negligible, but critics say the Office is out of touch with reality.

In March, the Office issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) where it suggested substantial increases to its fees, including increases of more than 50% for group registration of photographs and approximately 268% for updates to news websites. 

“The Office has determined that fees should be raised an average of 43% to account for increases in the cost of providing services. This reflects both historic inflation since the last fee study and anticipated inflation over the next three years,” the NPRM states. “The Office estimates that revenues generated by these proposed fees would be roughly $51 million per year over the next five years (compared to the current schedule’s projected $41 million per year), and would achieve approximately 53% projected cost recovery during the first year of implementation.”"