Copyright Registration

In this post, I discuss the process and benefits of copyright registration and how it can provide greater protections to your intellectual property.

*Photo by Mike Seyfang is licensed under CC 2.0. *

If you are the creator of an original work—whether artistic, literary, electronic, or a variety of other types—protecting your copyright is essential.

While not necessary to secure your copyright, copyright registration makes your copyright ownership a matter of public record. In addition, copyright registration makes certain legal remedies available to you that would otherwise not be.

As described below, there are a variety of reasons to register your copyright, putting the entire world on notice of your ownership rights with all the accompanying privileges.

Important Reasons to Register Your Copyright

1. Registration puts the public on notice of your ownership of the work.
2. You cannot enforce your copyright claim through an infringement lawsuit prior to registering your copyright.
3. So long as done within five years of publication, registration of your copyright establishes prima facie evidence of the legitimacy of your copyright claim.
4. If done within three months after publication or prior to an infringement of your copyright, you may be awarded statutory damages and attorney’s fees as part of your infringement suit. If you fail to register in this timeframe and then seek to enforce your copyright through an infringement action, only actual damages and loss of profits will be available to you. Since attorney’s fees can be significant, it is important to register your copyright as soon as possible.
5. If you register your copyright, your copyright will be recorded with the U.S. Customs Services to help prevent the importation of products infringing on your copyright.

Timing of Registration

Registration provides significant protection to copyright owners. Copyright ownership, however, is not contingent upon registration. That is to say, registration provides extra protection for copyright owners, it does not bestow that ownership.

Therefore, copyright owners may register their copyrights at any time within the lifespan of copyright ownership. As discussed above, however, it is to the owner’s advantage to register the copyright as soon as possible.

Copyright Registration Process

The process of registering a copyright begins with three essential actions on behalf of the copyright owner.

1. Filing of a completed application form with the United States Copyright Office.
2. Payment of a nonrefundable filing fee, which is usually $35 when applications are filed online. (You can find the schedule of fees here.)
3. Depositing a copy or copies of the copyrighted work that is the subject of the registration with the Copyright Office.

Copyright owners may apply for copyright registration online or by mailing a paper application to the Copyright Office. Registering online is generally faster, cheaper, and easier, and so we generally recommend that clients register their copyrights through this method. (Some applications—such as registration of vessel hull designs—must be completed on paper, but these are relatively uncommon.)

Effective Date of Copyright Registration

The effective date of copyright registration will be included on the registration certificate issued to you by the Copyright Office. The office will assign the date it received all required elements of the application as the effective date of registration, regardless of how long it to took for the Copyright Office to process your application and send you your registration certificate.

It is important to understand that, since you are not dependent on a successful registration for your copyright, you do not have to wait upon the Copyright Office to publish your work or to provide a copyright notice—such as the © symbol—on your work.

You must only wait upon the Copyright Office prior to filing a copyright infringement suit. (You are eligible to pursue statutory damages and attorney’s fees in your copyright infringement suit for all infringements that occurred after your effective date—unless your effective date is within three months of publication, in which case you may pursue these damages even if the infringement occurred prior to the effective date—not after the date you received your certificate.)

Protect Your Rights

As discussed above, copyright registration is critical to protecting your rights as the creator—or perhaps the inheritor or purchaser of the intellectual property—of original works. You should therefore register your copyright as soon as possible.

Our firm provides registration services for a flat fee of $500 plus the filing fee. Filing a lawsuit for copyright infringement without the possibility of recovering attorney’s fees will almost always be significantly more expensive than this, and so we encourage copyright holders to incur a small expense upfront to prevent larger expenses down the road.

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Sources:

Copyright Basics

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See Also:

How to Secure a Copyright

Understanding Copyrights