Group registration of published photographs (GRPPH) explained

What GRPPH is

GRPPH stands for group registration of published photographs. The Office says: "A group of published photographs may be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office with one application and one filing fee", provided its conditions are met, and the group can hold up to 750 photos (GRPPH help). You file it online in eCO by choosing "Register a Group of Photographs", then "Published Photographs" (Circular 42).

Without a group option, the Office's general rule is "one application, filing fee, and deposit for each work you want to register" (Circular 42). GRPPH and GRUPH were created so photographers, who make many works, do not have to file one claim per photo.

The conditions, in the Office's words

The GRPPH help lists these conditions (GRPPH help):

• "All the works in the group must be photographs." The Office "will not accept an application that combines photographs with text, artwork, illustrations, or any other type of work."
• "All the photographs must be published in the same calendar year."
• "The group must include no more than 750 photographs."
• "All the photographs must be created by the same author."
• "The copyright claimant for each photograph must be the same person or organization."

The application also needs a title for the group as a whole and a list of the title and file name of each photo, with its month and year of publication.

Published means published, in one calendar year

GRPPH is only for published photos. The help page says applicants "cannot use this option to register a group of unpublished photographs", that it "cannot be used to register a group that includes both published and unpublished photographs", and that it "cannot be used to register photographs that were published in different calendar years" (GRPPH help).

So photos published in 2025 and photos published in 2026 need two claims, even if there are only a few of each. Photos you have never published belong in a GRUPH claim instead.

Deciding whether a particular photo is published is up to you. The Office points to Compendium chapter 1900 for publication in general and section 1008.3 for online publication. Circular 42 adds that "The public display of a photograph, in and of itself, does not constitute publication" (Circular 42). Our guide Published or unpublished? collects the Office's wording, without making the call for you.

Publication dates

The application asks for the earliest and latest publication dates in the group. The Office's example: if photos were published on February 1st, 2nd and 3rd of 2018, the earliest date is "2/1/2018" (GRPPH help). It adds: "If you do not know the exact date of publication, give an approximate date."

The titles list gives the month and year of publication for each photo, and the title field in eCO groups titles by month. The template's instructions say: "DO NOT enter a two digit year" (GRPPH template). Our GRPPH titles list guide goes through each column.

Author and claimant

The help page says "the author of a photograph is generally the person who “shoots” or “takes” the photo." If the author is an individual photographer, "all of the photos in the group must be created by that individual" (GRPPH help).

Work made for hire is the exception. If each photo was made for hire, "the employer should be named as the author, even if the photos were taken by different photographers" (GRPPH help). Whether a photo was made for hire depends on facts only you know; the Office explains it in Circular 30.

The claimant must be the same person or organization for every photo in the group. The help text on the claimant screen explains who can be named.

The titles list and the deposit

• Files must be JPEG, GIF or TIFF (GRPPH help). See acceptable file types for photos.
• The titles list uses the Office's template and is named with the group title and the case number, as in the Office's example "Baxter Wedding Photos Case Number 1-8766033261.xls" (file name builder).
• File names in the list must match the uploaded files. Otherwise "the Office may ask you to exclude that photo from the claim or may refuse registration" (GRPPH help).
• The Office "strongly encourages you to combine the photos and the title list in a .zip file", and each upload must be 500 MB or less (GRPPH help, eCO FAQ).

What a GRPPH claim costs

When we checked the fees page on 24 October 2026, it listed: "Registration of a claim in a group of published photographs or a claim in a group of unpublished photographs $55" (Fees). The Office has proposed raising this to $85; no start date had been published. See Copyright Office fee increase 2026.

When GRPPH is not the right fit

Circular 42 lists other ways to register several photographs, such as group registration of contributions to periodicals, which "may be useful" when the works "were first published in periodicals within a twelve-month period" (Circular 42, Circular 62C). It also notes that the unit of publication option "may not be used to register photographs that were first published online or in a digital form." Which option suits your work is your decision.

The unpublished option: GRUPH

GRUPH, group registration of unpublished photographs, is the companion option for photos that have not been published. It shares most conditions with GRPPH: all photographs, no more than 750, same author, same claimant, a title for the group and a titles list (GRUPH help). The differences:

• Every photo must be unpublished, and there is no calendar year rule, because there are no publication dates.
• The application has no publication screen, and the GRUPH titles list has no publication column.
• Circular 42 notes that the old "Unpublished Collection" option "is no longer available for photographic works" and has been replaced by GRUPH.
• The fee is the same: $55 today, with $85 proposed (Fees).

If a set includes both kinds, you file one GRPPH claim per calendar year of publication and one GRUPH claim for the rest. The group registration steps show the order of work.

Questions

Sources

• GRPPH help (checked 24 October 2026)
• GRUPH help (checked 24 October 2026)
• Circular 42: Copyright Registration of Photographs (checked 24 October 2026)
• Compendium chapter 1900: Publication
• Circular 30: Works Made for Hire
• Circular 62C: Group Registration of Contributions to Periodicals
• GRPPH titles list template
• eCO FAQ
• Fees, copyright.gov (checked 24 October 2026)