Registering Photographs

Copyright and Photographs

You may register photographs in groups of up to 750 images per application.

The Copyright Office requires a formatted spreadsheet listing all titles.

With the RightsClick^® suite, you can submit a group photo application in a matter of minutes.

And we take care of the spreadsheets!

Copyright Office Rules

UNPUBLISHED group applications may include photos created at any time.
PUBLISHED photos submitted as a group application must have been first published in the same calendar year.
NO MIXING published and unpublished on the same application.
Applicants must provide a specifically formatted spreadsheet with all the photo titles listed.
Titles are entered into a field with a character limit that cane be confusing.

RightsClick^® Advantages

Once you upload a group of images to a Project, you are minutes away from submitting the registration application.
RightsClick automatically complies with Copyright Office rules.
We prepare and submit the spreadsheets – and deal with the annoying character-limited entries!
RightsClick processes applications quickly (often the same day).
Your portfolio is updated with case and registration numbers.
RightsClick provides responsive support.

RightsClick Projects

Titles in RightsClick are uploaded into Projects. The name you give a Project will be the name used for the group registration (e.g., Edison Collection 2002).

We recommend that no single Project be larger than 750 images because this is the maximum amount allowed on one application.

File Size & Types

Group total – ideally 500mb but no more than 1GB. Larger groups may result in delays, and HUGE groups may fail to process.

File size 2mb or less per image.

Groups must be either all JPEG, JPG, TIFF, or GIF (JPEG/JPG recommended).

NOTE: It is important that all the elements of a visual work are visible in the deposit copy submitted for registration. For this reason, some more detailed images may require large file sizes, but most do not. Many customers submit groups of 750 images well within the 500mb target size.

Creating a Project in RightsClick

Naming Your Titles

Each image is referred to in RightsClick and by the Copyright Office as a Title. Title names will by default be the file names.

We urge the use of short, simple names. Fewer than 20 characters is great, but not required. You will want to name your Titles before uploading them into RightsClick..

A nice, clean format is Edison_May2022_001.

Hard Rules

Latin characters and numbers only.
No punctuation other than underscores.
Each Title in a group must have its own name. No extra credit for cleverness; that’s up to you.

Registration Fees

The Copyright Office charges $55 for a group photo registration, and RightsClick charges $15 for a small group (<100 images) and $30 for a large group.