Electronic Payment of Royalties

The U.S. Copyright Office has amended its regulations regarding the submission of royalty fees by cable operators, satellite carriers, and digital audio recording devices or media (DART) operators to require that these fees be paid using the U.S. Treasury Department’s Pay.gov system.

This rule simplifies the royalty payment process as part of broader efforts to make Office services digitized, interconnected, searchable, and easier to navigate. Mandating Pay.gov benefits both filers and the Office because it streamlines the process to receive, reconcile, and post payments; provides filers with the convenience of using a variety of methods, including credit or debit cards, as a form of payment; and eliminates redundancy. In addition, the rule harmonizes payment regulations across all services throughout the Office, which already mandate the use of Pay.gov for non-royalty electronic payments.