The Service
What group registration is and who it is built for.
Group registration is a USCO program that allows creators to register multiple related works together under a single copyright application, at a lower cost per work than filing individually. It is designed for creators who produce large volumes of content, such as photographers with hundreds of images, illustrators with a body of work, or writers with a collection of short pieces.
Without group registration, protecting a large body of work through individual filings is expensive and time-consuming. A photographer with 500 published images would need 500 separate applications at the individual filing fee each. Group registration programs let that same photographer register all 500 images in a single application, establishing federal copyright protection and statutory damages eligibility for the entire collection at a fraction of the cost.
Group registration does not reduce your legal protection. Each work in the group receives its own registration and the same statutory damages eligibility as a work filed individually. The difference is in the efficiency and cost of the filing, not the strength of the rights you receive.
The USCO has established specific group registration programs for different types of content, each with its own eligibility rules around publication status, authorship, and the number of works that can be included. Armani reviews your specific collection and advises on which program applies and how to structure the filing before anything is submitted.
What's Included
Everything in the flat fee.
Who It's For
For creators with more than one work to protect.
Group registration is the most cost-effective path to copyright protection for creators who produce work in volume. These are the most common situations.
Process
From collection review to registered group, step by step.
Submit details about your collection: the type of works, whether they have been published, the publication dates, your authorship status, and the approximate number of works you want to register. This information determines which group registration program applies.
Armani reviews your collection against the USCO eligibility requirements for each group registration program and advises on which program fits your works, how to structure the filing, and what documentation you will need to provide.
The group registration application is prepared with documentation of all works in the collection and submitted to the USCO along with the required deposit in the format specified for your program type.
The Copyright Office reviews the group application. Armani monitors for any correspondence from the USCO and responds to any requests for additional information or deposit materials promptly.
Once your group registration is issued, you receive your registration details and a Rights and Ownership Summary covering the entire collection. Each work in the group is protected with full statutory damages eligibility from the date of filing.
Pricing
Four tiers by collection type. All flat fee.
Group registration pricing is based on the type of works in your collection and the applicable USCO program. Each tier covers a specific category and volume of works.
Not sure which tier applies? Complete the intake form and describe your collection. Armani will identify the right program and confirm the applicable fee before any work begins. If your collection spans multiple programs, she will advise on the most efficient filing strategy.
Get Started
Ready to register your collection? Start here.
Complete the intake form below with details about your collection. Armani will review your works and confirm which group registration program applies before filing begins.
FAQ
Questions about group registration.
Yes. Each work in a group registration receives the same federal copyright protection and statutory damages eligibility as a work filed individually. The group registration format is a procedural efficiency, not a reduction in the legal protection each work receives. If someone infringes a single image from your registered group of 750 photographs, you have the same rights and remedies you would have if that image had been registered on its own.
It depends on the program. Unpublished works can be grouped together regardless of type under the standard unpublished group program. So a collection of unpublished manuscripts, illustrations, and code files can all be registered together. Published works generally need to be grouped by category: the GR/PPh program is specifically for photographs, the GR/2D program is for two-dimensional visual art, and the GRUW program is for short online literary works. If your collection includes different types of published works, multiple filings under the appropriate programs may be necessary. Armani advises on the most efficient structure after reviewing your specific collection.
Not in a single group registration for published photographs. The GR/PPh program requires that all photographs in a group were published within the same calendar year. If your images span multiple years, you would need a separate group registration application for each calendar year. For example, if you have 200 images published in 2023 and 300 published in 2024, those would be two separate filings. Armani structures the filings to cover your full library as efficiently as possible given the program rules.
Yes. The three-month rule applies to group registrations the same way it applies to individual registrations. If you register a group of works within three months of the earliest publication date in the group, you retain full statutory damages eligibility for pre-registration infringement of any work in the group. If you register more than three months after publication and infringement has already begun, you can only recover actual damages for that pre-registration period. This is why registering groups of published works promptly after publication matters, particularly for creators whose work circulates widely online.
If you have more than 750 photographs published in a single calendar year, you would file multiple group registration applications to cover the full set. Each application covers up to 750 images. For a library of 1,500 published photographs from the same year, that would be two Pro Photographer group filings. Armani structures the filings to maximize efficiency and minimize duplicate work across applications. If your images span multiple years, she also advises on prioritizing which years to register first based on the works most likely to be infringed.
No. Once a group registration application is filed, the list of works is fixed. New works created or published after the filing date cannot be added to an existing registration. New works need to be covered by a new filing, either a new group registration for the next batch of works or an individual registration for a single new piece. For creators who produce work continuously, the most practical approach is to register in periodic batches, such as quarterly or annually, so new work is covered on a rolling basis.