Applications and fees received without appropriate copies, phonorecords, or identifying material will not be processed and ordinarily will be returned.  Unpublished deposits without applications or fees ordinarily will be returned, also.  In most cases, published deposits received without applications and fees can be immediately transferred to the collections of the Library of Congress.  This practice is in accordance with Title 17, Chap. 4, Sec. 408 of the law, which provides that the published deposit required for the collections of the Library of Congress may be used for registration only if the deposit is “accompanied by the prescribed application and fee....”

After the deposit is received and transferred to another service unit of the Library for its collections or other disposition, it is no longer available to the Copyright Office.  If you wish to register the work, you must deposit additional copies or phonorecords with your application and fee.

Renewal Registration

To register a renewal, send: 

1.  A properly completed application Form RE and, if necessary, Form RE Addendum, and

2.  A nonrefundable filing fee of $45 without Addendum; $60 with Addendum for each application. (See Note above.) Each Addendum form must be accompanied by a deposit representing the work being reviewed.  See Circular 15, “Renewal of Copyright.”

NOTE:  Complete the application form using black ink pen or type. You may photocopy blank application forms. However, photocopied forms submitted to the Copyright Office must be clear, legible, on a good grade of 8-1/2 inch by 11-inch white paper suitable for automatic feeding through a photocopier.  The forms should be printed, preferably in black ink, head-to-head so that when you turn the sheet over, the top of page 2 is directly behind the top of page 1. Forms not meeting these requirements may be returned resulting in delayed registration.

Special Deposit Requirements

Special deposit requirements exist for many types of works.  The following are prominent examples of exceptions to the general deposit requirements: 

  + If the work is a motion picture, the deposit requirement is one
    complete copy of the unpublished or published motion picture and a
    separate written description of its contents, such as a continuity,
    press book, or synopsis.

  + If the work is a literary, dramatic, or musical work published only
    in a phonorecord, the deposit requirement is one complete
    phonorecord.

  + If the work is an unpublished or published computer program, the
    deposit requirement is one visually perceptible copy in source code
    of the first 25 and last 25 pages of the program.  For a program of
    fewer than 50 pages, the deposit is a copy of the entire program. 
    For more information on computer program registration, including
    deposits for revised programs and provisions for trade secrets,
    request “Copyright Registration for Computer Programs”
    [http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ61.pdf].