How to fix a mistake in a copyright registration: supplementary registration for photos

What a supplementary registration is

Circular 8 says it "may be used to correct an error in a copyright registration or to amplify the information given in a registration". It "does not cancel or replace the original registration or the registration number". Instead, it "adds information to the public record", and the Office "will issue a new certificate and registration number for the supplementary registration, and the original and supplementary registrations will be linked in the Office's public catalog" (Circular 8).

The Office "will refuse registration when a second basic registration is submitted for the same version of the work", so filing the same photos again is generally not the way to fix an error. "Supplementary registration is the only legal mode permitting authors and claimants to augment the registration with a correction or amplification" (Circular 8).

Correction or amplification

• Correction: "appropriate if information in the original registration was incorrect at the time that registration was made", for example "the wrong author of the work, or the work was registered as published when publication had not taken place".
• Amplification: information that "could have been included in the original registration but was omitted", changes in certain facts since the registration, or explanations that clarify the original application.
• Not needed for minor errors "such as typographical mistakes, the omission of an address that appears elsewhere on the certificate, or the addition of the articles “a,” “an,” or “the.”"

(Circular 8.)

What it can fix

Examples from Circular 8 that often come up for photographers:

• "To correct the spelling of a name or title."
• "To reflect a change in name or address." The Office notes this "does not remove the prior information from the public record".
• "To add a missing author or provide the name of the correct author."
• "To correct the year of completion or date of publication, as long as the corrected information is the same as, or earlier than, the effective date of registration for the original registration."
• "To clarify that a work registered as published was unpublished at the time of the original registration."

What it cannot fix

• "To reflect the division, license, or transfer of rights in the work." Transfers are recorded instead.
• "To add a date of publication to the original registration for an unpublished work", with a narrow exception the Office describes for works registered as unpublished in error.
• "To address an error or omission appearing in a deposit copy, or to add new material to a deposit copy." Photos left out of a group claim are not added this way.
• "To cancel or abandon a registration", or "To question or challenge the validity of a basic registration."

(Circular 8.) Whether your situation fits is your decision, or your lawyer's.

Who can file and when

The author, the claimant, the owner of some of the exclusive rights, or an agent of any of them; "No one else may file an application for supplementary registration". It "may be made at any time after the Copyright Office issued the original registration and may address multiple errors or missing information in the same application", but each one covers "one original registration" only (Circular 8).

How to file it

1. File online. Circular 8 says group registrations of published photographs must be supplemented through the online system; a paper application would be refused and you would have to file again online "with a new fee".
2. Start it in eCO. Log in and click "supplementary registration" on the left of the screen.
3. Enter the original registration number and year. The number "typically begins with two or three letters, such as “VA” or “VAu”", and the year is under "effective date of registration" on the certificate.
4. Give the corrected or missing information and a brief explanation of the reason for the change.
5. Pay the fee. $100 for electronic filing on the fees page when we checked on 25 October 2026. The Office has proposed $85 (fee increase 2026).

The Office "may request documentation", especially when the change concerns authorship, ownership or eligibility (Circular 8).

Avoiding mistakes in the first place

Register My Photos does not file supplementary registrations. It helps with the group claim itself: it fills in the Office's titles list, keeps file names and publication months in step, and flags files and dates that would cause problems, before you upload. Check a batch.

Last checked 25 October 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Questions

Sources

• Circular 8: Supplementary Registration (checked 25 October 2026)
• Fees, copyright.gov (checked 25 October 2026)