Registering one work costs $65. Registering fifty costs $3,250, plus the time to file fifty applications. If the works are unpublished, there's a much cheaper way, and many applicants don't know it exists.

The short answer: you can register up to ten unpublished works on a single application for $85 (as of November 2026). All ten must have the same author, the author must be the claimant, and the works must be the same type. Each work is treated as registered on its own.

The rules

The option is in 37 C.F.R. § 202.4(c), and the Copyright Office explains it in Circular 34, Multiple Works. The conditions:

  • All works must be unpublished.
  • No more than ten works per application. You can file as many applications as you need.
  • Same author or the same joint authors for every work.
  • Every author must be named as a claimant.
  • The authorship claimed must be the same for each work (for example, "unpublished motion pictures").
  • Same administrative class. You can't mix a poem, a song, and a drawing.
  • A title for each work.
  • Online filing, with a digital copy of each work uploaded.

This option replaced the older "unpublished collection" practice in 2019. If you've read advice about registering an unlimited collection of unpublished works for one fee, it's out of date.

The two requirements that trip up companies

"Unpublished"

A work that has been sold, offered for download, or handed to distributors is published and doesn't qualify. A work that's only been streamed or displayed online is generally still unpublished under the Copyright Office's guidance. See Is streaming "publication"?

The simplest way to be sure is to file before launch.

"The author must be the claimant"

This one is easy to miss. The claimant has to be the author, not someone who bought the rights from the author.

  • A company whose employees made the works qualifies. The works are made for hire, so the company is the author. 17 U.S.C. § 201(b).
  • A company with signed work-made-for-hire agreements may qualify, for the kinds of commissioned work that can be made for hire, such as parts of an audiovisual work. 17 U.S.C. § 101.
  • A company that acquired the works by assignment doesn't qualify. The authors are the individual creators, and they aren't the claimant. Each work then needs its own application.

That's one more reason to get work-made-for-hire paperwork signed before the work is created. See Who owns your videos?

Each work is registered separately

Under the regulation, when the Office issues a group registration for unpublished works, it registers each work as a separate work, and the group itself isn't a compilation or a collective work. 37 C.F.R. § 202.4.

That matters for damages. Statutory damages are awarded per work, and the parts of a compilation count as one work. 17 U.S.C. § 504(c)(1). In Bryant v. Media Right Productions, Inc., 603 F.3d 135 (2d Cir. 2010), songs issued as albums supported one award per album, not one per song.

Group of unpublished works One collective-work registration
Works covered Up to 10 Unlimited, if the claimant owns them all
Fee (Nov. 2026) $85 $65
Each work separately registered Yes No; registered as parts of the collective work
Statutory damages Per work Risk of a single award

For anything you'd want to enforce work by work, the group option is usually the better buy.

What it's good for

  • A video library or course before launch. Sixty lessons are six applications, $510 in fees, not $3,900.
  • A backlog of unpublished writing: articles, chapters, scripts, or lesson plans.
  • Songs and recordings not yet released.
  • Successive unpublished versions of a program. The Office's software circular notes that multiple unpublished versions may be registered this way.
  • Internal materials you'd want to enforce if they leaked, such as training content and playbooks.

Unpublished works get no grace period for statutory damages under 17 U.S.C. § 412, so the registration needs to be on file before any leak or copying. See When to register a copyright.

How to file

  1. Sort the works into groups of up to ten, by type and by author.
  2. Give each work a distinct title, and name each file to match.
  3. Use the Office's dedicated application for a group of unpublished works. It isn't the Standard Application.
  4. Upload a complete copy of each work. For video, export a compressed copy if the master is too large for the upload limit.
  5. Keep a copy of exactly what you uploaded, filed with the application.
  6. Don't publish before you file. If any work in the group turns out to have been published, the Office can refuse the claim or remove that work.

The fee is going up

The Copyright Office has proposed raising this fee from $85 to $130, and the standard fee from $65 to $85. Even at $130, ten works for one fee beats $850 for ten separate applications. See the 2026 Copyright Office fee increase.

Practical takeaways

  • Ten unpublished works, one fee, each separately registered.
  • The company must be the author, which means employees or work-made-for-hire agreements, not assignments.
  • File before launch, while "unpublished" is beyond argument.

If you have a library to register and want it grouped correctly the first time, I can help.

Primary authority

Related resources

This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Copyright Office practices and fees change, and the law varies by circuit; confirm current requirements at copyright.gov and consult qualified counsel about your situation.