Attention all artists!
After February 17 2026, we can now register up to 20 different 2D works - designs, drawings, paintings and other 2D pieces - in one single application with the US Copyright Office!
Currently, we've only been able to register a group of up to 10 pieces of 2D art only if they haven't been published anywhere. This is why I haven't been showing my new wing designs until I've finished and registered a whole group of them. That's still the best protection but it's nice to have another option.
The only other type that can be registered after publication as a group are photos, more than 700 at a time IIRC as long as they were all published the same year.
Or the images have to be a part of a collection such as an art book or pack of clip art that includes all of them for the first time if I remember correctly.
This is a big deal y'all.
Artists who produce a lot of different works in a year often would neglect to register anything due to expense or only pick a few popular pieces, as it doesn't always make sense to hold back on showing or selling a piece until you have a bunch of them. Especially in the age of social media where people expect us to share WIPs, where we need to quickly keep creating new things to keep income flowing & work even harder to be seen over all the AI content out there saturating the market.
While it's true that you own the copyright of a work as soon as you make it (as long as it meets the requirements of a protectable work), if someone infringes on your copyright by distributing or selling your work without consent you HAVE TO have a valid copyright registration certificate in order to fight it legally.
Whether you're filing a legal claim with the Copyright Claims Board, which only requires that you've at least submitted your application for registration and it's only roughly $100 to file with no attorney required, or in federal court which requires you to not only have applied but to also have it approved with the certificate in hand, registration is a requirement if you want to get any money out of the infringing party.
You don't need to be wealthy to enforce your copyright.
Now you may be thinking you can't afford a federal lawsuit, which is where you'd get the most damages awarded, but some attorneys take cases on contingency IF you've properly registered and have a strong case against a defendant they think will be able to pay. That means, you don't pay them but if you win or get a settlement, they take a percentage of that money.
Sometimes attorneys will offer a settlement negotiation first to the offending party, but that only works if you have a strong case and have registered your work because they may ignore you without a valid threat of being sued.
The cost of registration could be expensive however, starting at $45 for a single work by a single author / artist. You can see how the cost could be a barrier for a low income artist especially one creating many works within a year, and why I think this is something to celebrate.
I don't know yet how much it will cost for the group registration of published 2D works, but the cost for an un-published group is $85 so I expect an amount close to that.
It's well worth it, if at the end of the year you have at least 20 pieces you want to protect but haven't registered yet.
I believe we should be able to now register old works this way that we couldn't afford to register before, although keep in mind that since courts consider registrations done within 5 years of publication to be 'prima facie' and the registration won't be questioned, it's important to do it as soon as you're able.
That doesn't mean you can't register or can't litigate works registered after that point, but you may need to provide more evidence of ownership in that case.
Now I should state that I'm not an attorney, and this does not constitute official legal advice.
However, I've had quite a bit of experience dealing with copycats, settlements, CCB claims and even a couple federal court cases and there are things I wish I knew years ago, so I'd like to share what I can to help other artists.
If you've been as unlucky as me to have your work infringed en masse by a LOT of different overseas sellers, you'll want to subscribe to my Patreon for my posts about that. Some of that info may be paywalled for good reasons I can’t go into detail about yet, but please feel free to reach out if you are experiencing that yourself as I may be able to give you some helpful info and legal referrals.
I'll end with this:
If it weren't for registering my work and being able to get what I'm owed from infringing parties, I might have had to shut down Fancy Fairy last year or at least get a part time 'real job' like so many other artists have recently been forced to. Increased art theft had already made things really hard, and Trump's BS only made everything that much harder making this one of my worst winters for sales that I can remember.
Any artist being infringed should get their payback, and this rule change will make that easier! Share this info with your artist friends, and let's keep artists in business.
~
Alt text for screenshot:
Group Registration for Two-Dimensional Artwork Final Rule
The U.S. Copyright Office has created a new group registration option known as Group Registration for Two-Dimensional Artwork, or GR2D, to allow artists to register a group of published two-dimensional artworks by submitting a deposit comprising one complete digital copy of each work within the group. The final rule expands the registration options currently available to artists and permits the registration of multiple works with a single application and one filing fee.
The final rule also announces a new online registration application for this group option. The proposed rule would have allowed applicants to register up to ten works published within a thirty-day period. Based on commenters’ input and to facilitate broader participation in the registration system, the final rule permits applicants to register up to twenty works, where all works within the group were first published within the same calendar year.
The final rule takes effect on February 17, 2026, to coincide with the expected completion of related system development and educational resources. The Office will issue an additional public announcement when this option is available to applicants. For more information, please visit the Copyright Office website.
United States Copyright Office
copyright.gov
(202) 707-3000
or 1 (877) 476-0778 (toll free)
