The U.S. Copyright Office offers a search service for persons interested in investigating whether a work is under copyright protection and, if so, the facts of the copyright. For a fee of $150 per hour or fraction thereof, the office will search its public records and provide a report of its findings. Based on the information you furnish below, we will provide an estimate of the total search fee before conducting the search.

Please be advised that there are limitations on searches and that searches are not always conclusive. More information is provided in Circular 22.

For questions and information please contact:

Reference & Bibliography Section
(202) 707-6850
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, eastern time
Fax: (202) 252-3485

Estimates are based on the Copyright Office fee of $150* an hour or fraction of an hour consumed. The more information you furnish as a basis for the search, the better service we can provide. The time between the date of receipt of your fee for the search and your receiving a report will vary from 6 weeks or less depending on the nature of the search.

The Copyright Office is not permitted to act as an agent for copyright owners in the licensing or other disposition of their rights. Permission to use copyrighted material must be secured directly from the copyright owner or the owner's authorized agent.

Requests for searches on a regular or expedited basis can be charged to a credit card by phone.

Names, titles, and short phrases are not copyrightable.

Please read Circular 22 for more information on copyright searches.

  Please allow 2-5 days for a response.
  Be sure to submit your request only once — duplicate requests run the risk of being filtered out.