GrindEFX

Get ready to dig a little deeper into your pockets.

Fees to register United States copyrights are set to rise on August 1, 2009.

The U.S. Copyright Office lists what fees will be going up. Registering online through the new eCo system will remain at $35 (currently lower than registering by mail). The cost of registering with form CO (a new, universal form unveiled last year to cover most works of authorship) will increase from $45 to $50. If you can still get a hold of the old forms – SR, PA, TX, V, etc – you will be paying $65, up from $45.

This move by the Copyright Office reflects the growing costs of processing copyright registrations. The electronic registration process was implemented in order to reduce the costs involved, and that cost reduction is reflected by the lower fees.

The electronic process is not perfect – early reviews detailed some of the problems with it, and the Washington Times noted that it suffers from delays. However, paper forms suffer from even longer delays, and after August 1 will cost artists and musicians even more.

I see no reason for musicians to continue to use forms SR and PA. Since form CO came out, you had to request them by mail from the Copyright Office, so they are much more inconvenient than the electronic process or form CO, which can be downloaded directly from the site. In a few days, the cost to file one of the legacy forms will increase more than form CO. Finally, because they lack the automatically generated barcode on form CO, they take much longer to process by the Copyright Office.

This may not be a problem in some areas of the country where copyright registrations are valid as soon as they are received by the Copyright Office. However, in some jurisdictions, the effective date of a copyright registration is the date the Copyright Office either approves or denies the application – a situation that can lead to unfortunate results for musicians and artists.