Monday, June 4, 2018

Photographers Shutter at Plan to Boost Copyright Fees; Bloomberg, June 4, 2018

Anandashankar Mazumdar, Bloomberg; Photographers Shutter at Plan to Boost Copyright Fees

"A U.S. Copyright Office proposal to nearly double some fees has freelance photographers feeling exposed.

The agency wants to increase fees for a range of services. The fee for registering a single book or song, for example, would rise from $55 to $75 under the proposal. The fee for registering up to 750 images at once—something photographers often do—would jump from $55 to $100. The office will accept comments on the proposal until July 23.

The proposal is one more potential hurdle for photographers, who have grappled with rapid changes in markets and technology since the 1990s and struggle to police their copyrights in the digital age. Critics say the increase will discourage photographers from registering their copyrights, which runs counter to public interest."

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