US Copyright Office Submits MLS Fee Increase to Congress
Issue Date: July 21, 2026
On July 14, 2026, the U.S. Copyright Office submitted a final fee schedule to Congress that includes a significant increase in registration fees for multiple listing services (MLS). The House and Senate Judiciary Committees and Congressional leadership have 120 days—through midnight, November 11—to approve or disapprove the new fees.
Timely copyright registration is critical for MLSs and other content creators because it is required to bring infringement lawsuits and to seek statutory damages and attorneys fees when companies scrape and use listing data without permission. The proposed fee increases would raise the cost of maintaining these legal protections at a time when unauthorized use of real estate data remains a growing concern.
In coordination with the Copyright Alliance, NAR opposed the fee increases in two recent letters (linked below). NAR argued that MLSs should not be required to absorb repeated cost hikes driven by the Copyright Office’s decision to maintain a more expensive, paper-based system. NAR urged the office to reduce costs by modernizing its processes, including offering a fully electronic filing option, rather than shifting those costs onto users.
NAR maintains that fees should be fair, reflect actual costs, and not discourage registration. The Copyright Office’s proposal shifts costs onto MLSs and others who register many works at once to subsidize lower fees for individuals filing a single registration, based on assumptions that all high-volume users are large corporations that will keep filing no matter the price. NAR pushed back, noting that MLSs are not large corporations, are sensitive to price increases, and that registrations are already declining. While the Copyright Office acknowledged these concerns, it did not revise the MLS-related fees and made only minor changes in other parts of the fee proposal.
In the coming months, NAR will engage with key members of Congress to oppose the fee increases during the review period. If Congress does not act by November 11, the higher fees will take effect, increasing compliance costs for MLSs and other content creators. Over time, higher fees could discourage registration and limit access to the full suite of legal protections against unauthorized use of real estate data.