US Copyright Office website screenshot

US Copyright Office

The US Copyright Office is a government agency responsible for administering and enforcing copyright laws in the United States. The office is responsible for registering and documenting copyright claims, maintaining the public catalog of copyright records, providing bulk data downloads of registration records, and administering licensing programs. The Copyright Office provides open bulk datasets of approximately 22 million registration records and is modernizing its systems through the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS) program.

US Copyright Office publishes 4 APIs on the APIs.io network. Tagged areas include Copyright, Federal Government, Intellectual Property, and Open Data.

The US Copyright Office catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

US Copyright Office’s developer surface includes engineering blog, documentation, getting-started guide, FAQ, and 8 more developer resources.

38.8/100 thin ▼ -5.4 Agent 3/100 human only Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemium
4 APIs 6 Features 5 Use Cases
CopyrightFederal GovernmentIntellectual PropertyOpen Data

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 38.8/100 · thin
Contract Quality 8.5 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 4.3 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 4.1 / 13
Governance 8.3 / 12
Discoverability 5.6 / 10
Agent readiness — 3/100 · human only
Machine-Readable Contract 0 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 0 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 0 / 6
Agent Skills 0 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 4

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Copyright Public Records System

The Copyright Public Records System (CPRS) provides access to U.S. copyright registration and recordation data with advanced search capabilities and improved interfaces. Replace...

Copyright Bulk Datasets

Bulk download of approximately 22 million U.S. copyright registration records from January 1, 1978 to June 27, 2025. Available in raw unparsed MARC, parsed CSV, and tabular CSV ...

Licensing Documents Search

Searchable directory of licensing documents including compulsory license statements of account, royalty payments, and statutory license records maintained by the Copyright Office.

DMCA Designated Agent Directory

Searchable directory of Online Service Providers (OSPs) that have registered DMCA designated agents with the U.S. Copyright Office per Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copy...

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Us Copyright Office Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Features 6

Notable capabilities this provider offers.

Copyright Registration Bulk Data

Approximately 22 million copyright registration records from 1978 to present available for bulk download in MARC, parsed CSV, and tabular CSV formats across all copyright work c...

Copyright Public Records System (CPRS)

Advanced search system for copyright registration and recordation data, replacing the Online Public Catalog in June 2025.

Online Registration (eCO)

Electronic Copyright Office registration system for submitting new copyright registration applications online.

Licensing Documents Search

Searchable database of compulsory license statements of account and royalty payments filed with the Copyright Office.

DMCA Designated Agent Directory

Directory of online service providers that have registered DMCA designated agents per Section 512 of the DMCA.

Enterprise Copyright System Modernization

Ongoing modernization of all Copyright Office IT systems into a unified, interconnected digital infrastructure.

Semantic Vocabularies 1

JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.

Us Copyright Office Context

5 classes · 28 properties

JSON-LD

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

US Copyright Office API Rules

5 rules · 4 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

JSON Schema 3

Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.

DMCADesignatedAgent

10 properties

JSON SCHEMA

CopyrightRecordation

10 properties

JSON SCHEMA

CopyrightRegistration

11 properties

JSON SCHEMA

JSON Structure 3

JSON Structure definitions describing this provider's data shapes.

Us Copyright Office Dmca Agent Structure

10 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Us Copyright Office Recordation Structure

10 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Us Copyright Office Registration Structure

11 properties

JSON STRUCTURE

Examples 3

Example request and response payloads for these APIs.

Security Posture 1

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Us Copyright Office Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · HSTS · DNSSEC · DMARC

SECURITY

Use Cases 5

What developers build with this provider.

Copyright Research and Due Diligence

Searching copyright records to determine ownership, registration status, and rights information for works before licensing or use.

Bulk Data Analysis and Research

Downloading bulk copyright registration datasets for academic research, legal analysis, or statistical studies of copyright registration trends.

DMCA Compliance

Looking up DMCA designated agents for online service providers to send takedown notices per Section 512 requirements.

Licensing Compliance Verification

Searching licensing documents to verify statutory license compliance and royalty payment records.

Orphan Works Identification

Using copyright records to research ownership of works when rights holders cannot be identified or located.

Integrations 2

Pre-built integrations with other platforms and tools.

Library of Congress

Copyright Office is a department of the Library of Congress; data integrates with LC catalog systems and MARC format records.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Collaborates with USPTO on intellectual property policy, including joint AI and copyright/patent studies.

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Design & Contract 2

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Commercial 1

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Company 3

The organization behind the API

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: us-copyright-office
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
apis:
- aid: us-copyright-office:copyright-public-records
  name: Copyright Public Records System
  tags:
  - Copyright
  - Public Records
  - Federal Government
  humanURL: https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/
  properties:
  - url: https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://www.copyright.gov/public-records/
    type: GettingStarted
  - url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/json-schema/us-copyright-office-registration-schema.json
    type: JSONSchema
    title: Copyright Registration Schema
  - url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/json-schema/us-copyright-office-recordation-schema.json
    type: JSONSchema
    title: Copyright Recordation Schema
  description: The Copyright Public Records System (CPRS) provides access to U.S. copyright registration and recordation data
    with advanced search capabilities and improved interfaces. Replaced the Online Public Catalog in June 2025 and contains
    records from 1978 onward.
- aid: us-copyright-office:copyright-bulk-datasets
  name: Copyright Bulk Datasets
  tags:
  - Copyright
  - Bulk Data
  - Federal Government
  - Open Data
  humanURL: https://www.copyright.gov/economic-research/usco-datasets/
  properties:
  - url: https://www.copyright.gov/economic-research/usco-datasets/
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://data.copyright.gov
    type: DataAPI
    title: Bulk Data Download Portal
  description: Bulk download of approximately 22 million U.S. copyright registration records from January 1, 1978 to June
    27, 2025. Available in raw unparsed MARC, parsed CSV, and tabular CSV formats. Includes registrations, renewals, cancellations,
    preregistrations, and recordations across all copyright categories.
- aid: us-copyright-office:licensing-documents-search
  name: Licensing Documents Search
  tags:
  - Copyright
  - Licensing
  - Federal Government
  humanURL: https://licensing.copyright.gov/lds/
  properties:
  - url: https://licensing.copyright.gov/lds/
    type: Documentation
  description: Searchable directory of licensing documents including compulsory license statements of account, royalty payments,
    and statutory license records maintained by the Copyright Office.
- aid: us-copyright-office:dmca-designated-agent
  name: DMCA Designated Agent Directory
  tags:
  - Copyright
  - DMCA
  - Federal Government
  humanURL: https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/
  properties:
  - url: https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/
    type: Documentation
  - url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/json-schema/us-copyright-office-dmca-agent-schema.json
    type: JSONSchema
    title: DMCA Designated Agent Schema
  description: Searchable directory of Online Service Providers (OSPs) that have registered DMCA designated agents with the
    U.S. Copyright Office per Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
name: US Copyright Office
tags:
- Copyright
- Federal Government
- Intellectual Property
- Open Data
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/us-copyright-office.png
access: 3rd-Party
created: '2024-12-03'
modified: '2026-05-03'
position: Consumer
description: The US Copyright Office is a government agency responsible for administering and enforcing copyright laws in
  the United States. The office is responsible for registering and documenting copyright claims, maintaining the public catalog
  of copyright records, providing bulk data downloads of registration records, and administering licensing programs. The Copyright
  Office provides open bulk datasets of approximately 22 million registration records and is modernizing its systems through
  the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS) program.
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/us-copyright-office-domain-security.yml
- url: https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/rss.xml
  type: Blog
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/united-states-copyright-office
- type: Website
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/public-records/
  title: Search Copyright Records
- type: DataAPI
  url: https://data.copyright.gov
  title: Bulk Data Downloads
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/registration/
  title: Register Your Work
- type: FAQ
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/eco/faq.html
  title: Online Registration FAQs
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/en/about/policies/
  title: Website Policies
- type: Contact
  url: https://www.copyright.gov/about/contact/
  title: Contact the Copyright Office
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Copyright Registration Bulk Data
    description: Approximately 22 million copyright registration records from 1978 to present available for bulk download
      in MARC, parsed CSV, and tabular CSV formats across all copyright work categories.
  - name: Copyright Public Records System (CPRS)
    description: Advanced search system for copyright registration and recordation data, replacing the Online Public Catalog
      in June 2025.
  - name: Online Registration (eCO)
    description: Electronic Copyright Office registration system for submitting new copyright registration applications online.
  - name: Licensing Documents Search
    description: Searchable database of compulsory license statements of account and royalty payments filed with the Copyright
      Office.
  - name: DMCA Designated Agent Directory
    description: Directory of online service providers that have registered DMCA designated agents per Section 512 of the
      DMCA.
  - name: Enterprise Copyright System Modernization
    description: Ongoing modernization of all Copyright Office IT systems into a unified, interconnected digital infrastructure.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Copyright Research and Due Diligence
    description: Searching copyright records to determine ownership, registration status, and rights information for works
      before licensing or use.
  - name: Bulk Data Analysis and Research
    description: Downloading bulk copyright registration datasets for academic research, legal analysis, or statistical studies
      of copyright registration trends.
  - name: DMCA Compliance
    description: Looking up DMCA designated agents for online service providers to send takedown notices per Section 512 requirements.
  - name: Licensing Compliance Verification
    description: Searching licensing documents to verify statutory license compliance and royalty payment records.
  - name: Orphan Works Identification
    description: Using copyright records to research ownership of works when rights holders cannot be identified or located.
- type: Vocabulary
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/us-copyright-office-vocabulary.yml
  title: US Copyright Office Vocabulary
- type: JSONLD
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/us-copyright-office/refs/heads/main/json-ld/us-copyright-office-context.jsonld
  title: US Copyright Office JSON-LD Context
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: Library of Congress
    description: Copyright Office is a department of the Library of Congress; data integrates with LC catalog systems and
      MARC format records.
  - name: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
    description: Collaborates with USPTO on intellectual property policy, including joint AI and copyright/patent studies.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.19'