Sponsors (2)
Official title: Amend title 17, United States Code, to reform copyright laws relating to visual artists.
Introduced December 17, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress December 17, 2025
The bill modernizes and lowers the cost of copyright registration for photographers and other visual creators by enabling batch submissions, third‑party registries, interoperability, and reduced fees, but it shifts implementation and long‑term costs and risks (budget shortfalls, registry obligations, privacy exposures, record fragmentation, and legal/administrative uncertainty) onto registries, creators, the Copyright Office, and potentially taxpayers.
Photographers, visual artists, and small businesses can register large numbers of works more easily and cheaply through single electronic submissions, batch filings, deferred registrations, and subscription options, reducing per-work administrative cost and time.
The Register must offer reduced and capped deferred fees and enable subscription pricing, making registration more affordable for individual creators and small businesses.
Authors can use certified third‑party electronic registries, tool-based auto-submission, and interoperable systems (with transfer rules), giving creators more flexible, modern options and reducing vendor lock‑in.
The Copyright Office is likely to collect less per-work revenue (due to batch filings, subscriptions, and reduced/deferred fees), which could reduce its budget or shift costs to taxpayers or other users.
Certified registries face long-term storage and operational obligations (store works for full copyright term; provide free public search and interoperability) that create substantial ongoing costs and may be passed to creators or taxpayers or deter registries from seeking certification.
Requiring searchable public metadata (owner names and contact info) exposes creators' contact details, increasing privacy and misuse risks for photographers and other visual artists.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Modernizes copyright registration for visual works by allowing single electronic deposits, certified third‑party registries, group and deferred registrations, and subscription/fee reforms.
Makes it easier and cheaper for photographers, sculptors, and other visual artists to register copyrights and deposit copies of their works. It exempts pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works from some existing deposit rules, lets creators deposit a single electronic copy, permits certified third‑party registries to accept deposits that satisfy federal requirements, enables group registrations for large photo collections, creates a deferred registration process that sets the registration effective date when the application is submitted, and establishes lower fees, subscription registration options, and fee-relief goals for individual creators and small businesses.