WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, this week introduced the Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act (VACRA), bipartisan legislation to modernize copyright registration for visual artists to make it easier and less costly for high-volume visual artists to register and protect their works. 

“Vermont’s visual creators make significant contributions to our country, and their work should be protected. But visual artists often struggle to protect the authenticity of their work because of the unique challenges facing high-volume artists,” said Senator Welch. “We’re working to modernize copyright processes and safeguard the creativity of visual artists.” 

“Visual artists produce incredible work that deserves to be protected, but current copyright law has fallen short,” said Senator Blackburn. “The Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act would modernize copyright registration so creators like photographers, illustrators, and graphic artists can protect their work and enforce their rights. This bill would fix a broken system by cutting unnecessary costs and bureaucracy, helping America’s creative community thrive.” 

The Copyright Act of 1976 offers the promise that copyrightable works are automatically protected the instant they are created. However, those rights cannot be enforced unless each work is registered with the Copyright Office. The registration process is so complicated that the time and expense of compliance is too high for high-volume creators like photographers, illustrators, and graphic artists. We are committed to working with the Copyright Office to address these shortcomings.  

The Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act would:  

• Direct the Register of Copyrights to establish a process for an individual to submit a single application for copyright registration of a group of up to 3,000 photographs; 

• Adopt a deferred copyright registration option. Under current law, the Copyright Office calculates registration fees based on their administrative costs, regardless of ability to pay or the punitive impact of high fees on photographers and all creators. These high fees ultimately result in many high-volume visual artists not registering their works because they cannot afford to do so. This bill would create a less costly “deferred examination” option for those who need it;  

• Direct the Register of Copyrights to establish regulations that allow for all-you-can-eat annual registration subscriptions for pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works; and  

• Direct the Register of Copyrights to create a modern, secure, searchable registry of electronic copies of copyrighted photos and the copyright holders’ information. Until the Copyright Office can achieve this, photographers would be allowed to submit copies of their photos to Copyright Office-certified private sector registries. Depositing a photo in such a registry would satisfy all necessary copyright deposit requirements. Allowing creators to submit their deposits to third party registries rather than the Copyright Office would streamline the process while also providing the public with useful information about the deposited work. This provision would sunset when the Copyright Office is able to provide its own modern, efficient online system. 

The Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act is endorsed by the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the Professional Photographers of America. 

Senator Welch has led efforts to protect creator content in the Senate. This summer, Sens. Welch and Blackburn reintroduced their bipartisan Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act, legislation to help musicians, artists, writers, and others access the courts to protect their copyrighted works if and when they are used to train generative AI models. Learn more about the TRAIN Act here. 

Learn more about the Visual Artists Copyright Reform Act.

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