How to Register a Copyright
- Why register my copyright?
- Copyright subsists in protectable works upon creation. However, copyright registration confers certain benefits for copyright owners, including the ability to bring suit against infringers.
- When should I register the copyright?
- You can register a copyright at any time. However, applying to register the copyright in your work within 3 months of publishing it creates a presumption of validity in the copyright (assuming everything else is proper).
- Should I use a service to register a copyright?
- In short – no. Copyright registration is relatively simple and may be done online.
- However, if you seek to protect your personal information, including your address, you may wish to consider such a service.
- Privacy & Copyright Registration
- The information you provide the Copyright Office is part of the public record. If you include your home address in the registration, that is part of the public record. If you use your email address – also part of the public record.
- You can use a third-party agent (i.e., a copyright registration service), a post office box, a single-purpose email address that forwards to your regular address, etc.
- What do I need to register a copyright?
- The application form
- Nonrefundable filing fee ($35 for sole authors of a single work, $55 for others, $85 for a paper application)
- Nonreturnable deposit (copies of your work)
- How do I apply to register my copyrighted work online?
- You may apply to register a work using the online system through the US Copyright Office. The Copyright Office maintains screen-by-screen tutorials of how to use the online registration system.
- You will make an online payment of your nonrefundable filing fee.
- Upload your work via the system or print out a mailing slip to deposit a physical copy of your work.
- What kinds of copyrighted works can be registered online?
- Literary Works
- Visual Arts
- Sound Recordings
- Performing Arts
- Motion Pictures and other Audiovisual Works
- A single issue of a serial.
- Group submissions – this category is most important for registration of periodicals (serials like newspapers and magazines and dailies). These may also be registered via paper form.
- Any other item must use a paper form!
- How do I apply to register a work on paper?
- When do I need to use a paper form?
- Renewals
- Corrections/additions
- Vessel Hull Designs
- Mask Works
- Registrations for copyrights restored by the 1994 URAA
- groups of photographs (by a single photographer in the same calendar year).
- What happens when I register my copyright?
- Your registration, once approved, is effective on the date all materials were received by the Copyright Office (the form, the deposit, and the fee).
- Your copyright registration is assigned a number and a certificate of registration is issued.
- Your registration appears in the Copyright Office’s records as evidence you have registered your copyright.