Guest Post by RightsClick
The U.S. Copyright Office has published a proposed regulation that would dramatically raise fees for all copyright registration applications and photographers would be hit hard.
Why Bother Registering Your Photos?
We hear that question all the time, especially from photographers. In our experience, there are two kinds of photographers: those who don’t register because they think they’ll never need it, and those who wish they had registered because their photos were infringed and they can’t really do anything about it. The bottom line: registration is required to enforce your rights.
For American photographers, you literally cannot file a copyright infringement lawsuit unless you have first registered the work. Even if you never go to court, registering prior to an infringement gives you access to special enforcement tools that allow you to ask for up to $30,000 for EACH photo that was infringed (and up to $150,000 per photo if the infringement was willful). That applies to all creators, American or not. When you send a letter asking for compensation, we know from experience that registered photos get quicker and larger settlements. Without registration, you will most likely get nothing.
The Urgent News: Proposed U.S. Copyright Office Fee Increases
On March 20, the Copyright Office published a proposed revision of all its fees, and they are all going up a lot. Individual applications are set to increase from $65 to $85. The fee for a group of photos is currently $55 but is designated to rise to $85. The U.S. Copyright Office fee increase could take effect as early as June.
If you have a back catalog that you have been meaning to register, NOW is the time. You can save yourself a LOT of money by getting those registration applications in BEFORE the fees go up. Once a photo is registered, the registration is valid for the rest of the copyright term (your life plus another 70 years).
Resources: How to Register Your Photos
The U.S. Copyright Office allows photos to be registered in groups of up to 750 per application. Copyright Office rules also require applicants to submit a spreadsheet with the titles of each photo and the corresponding file name of each photo that is uploaded to their website. Copyright Office rules also require you to distinguish between photos that are published and those that are unpublished. A group must either be all published photos or all unpublished, you cannot mix them. See more details.
We know most photographers find the Copyright Office process confusing and time-consuming. That is exactly why we built RightsClick. We have made it simple and easy to submit a registration application – you can do it in five minutes. Our software will ensure that your application complies with U.S. Copyright Office rules, and there is no need to prepare the spreadsheets. RightsClick does that step for you.
Advocacy: What You Can Do About the Fee Hikes
Public comments are being accepted through May 4th. If you agree that these increases will be too much of a burden, you can write to the Copyright Office. If you are an American citizen, you can also write to your Congressman and Senators. Congress has the power to disapprove the proposed fee increases, but they would have to act in the next three months. We expect serious opposition to these proposed fee increases but they could go forward, anyway.
Protect Your Files Before You Register
While RightsClick is the ultimate tool for navigating the U.S. Copyright Office, protecting your work starts the moment you deliver a project to your end-client.
Don’t let clients download high-resolution media before paying for their specific license. By utilizing Show&Tour’s Delivery Pages and enabling The Paywall, you can require clients to pay their invoice before they are allowed to download their final files. It’s a practical, professional workflow step that protects your intellectual property and guarantees you get paid on time without chasing down late payments.
But it doesn’t stop at the download button. Show&Tour gives you flexible options for embedding your specific licensing terms directly into the delivery process. You can choose to simply display your terms on the page, or, for maximum protection, you can wrap them directly into the download process. If you enable this option, before a client can access their media, they are required to review your terms of service and click an “Agree and Download” button. This ensures your end-clients explicitly understand how the images can and cannot be used, drastically improving your legal standing and ensuring everyone is on the same page from day one. It’s a practical, professional workflow step that protects your intellectual property and guarantees you get paid on time without chasing down late payments.
Conclusion & Special Offer for Show&Tour Users
Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is the only way to get the full protection of American copyright law, even for non-U.S. citizens. It is your work – protect it. In order to help you do that, RightsClick is offering Show&Tour users a special discount if you act now – one month free and a reduced subscription rate of just $5.95 per month (50% off). Just use the code ShowandTour2026 when you create your account.