Do You Have To Register For A Copyright

Until you register a copyright, yous tin expect express protection. Here's what you demand to know nigh copyright and registration.

You have probably heard that as before long as you create a piece of work and record it or write information technology down, you lot have copyright protection. This is correct, but the protection is express. If yous want the full range of protections and benefits that copyright law has to offer, registration is the way to go.

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What Copyright Protects

A copyright protects an original creative, literary, dramatic or musical work. This includes things like paintings, books, songs, movies, software and even advertising copy. Copyright law does not protect ideas. The work must be in a tangible medium. Equally soon as a piece of work is put into a tangible form, copyright protection automatically applies — no further action is required. To be put in tangible form ways that other people can read, run into or hear the work.

As the creator of the work, you have the sectional correct to:

Distribute or publish the work
Make copies of the work
Make derivatives of the work
Perform the work
Display the work

As the creator, yous tin sell or license any of the rights listed above. But, if anyone attempts to distribute, publish, re-create, perform or display the piece of work without your express permission, they will be infringing on the copyright.

They can face legal consequences — whether or not the piece of work is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. Nether current police force, the duration of a copyright is the life of the writer plus lxx years.

Benefits of Copyright Registration

While registration of a copyright is not required for legal protection, you may savor significant benefits from filing. These include:

Public Tape . When a copyright is registered, information technology is published in the U.S. Copyright Office'due south searchable database. Because it is a public tape, it is easy for people to find and run into that it is a copyrighted work.
Ability to File an Infringement Lawsuit. If your copyright is non registered, you can't file a copyright-infringement lawsuit.
Validity of the Copyright. The registration certificate will provide factual show of the validity of your copyright in a copyright-infringement lawsuit.
Statutory Damages. Without copyright registration, any fiscal recovery is express to bodily damages, which can be nominal or difficult to prove. If you register your copyright, you are entitled to statutory damages and attorneys' fees. Statutory amercement range from $750 to $30,000. In cases of willful infringement, the corporeality can be upward to $150,000.

The procedure of copyright registration involves filling out an application grade, paying a fee and submitting copies of the piece of work to be registered to the U.South. Copyright Function. Y'all can file a paper application or an online application. Save money and speed upward the procedure by submitting online.

Why Copyright Registration Is Important for Businesses

Registering a copyright is not just beneficial to creatives and artists. Businesses can also benefit from registering the copyright for important software, visitor websites and marketing/advertising materials such as photographs, graphics and written copy.

If information technology is vital to your business, y'all should register the copyright. You will accept increased legal protections, and the amercement you will recover in a copyright-infringement lawsuit will be higher.

Also, if you take plans to expand your concern internationally, you'll desire to annals your copyright. While there is no such thing as international copyright registration, the United States is a signatory to both the Berne Convention and the World Intellectual Holding Organization Copyright Treaty — international treaties that cover copyright protection. Therefore, whatsoever piece of work protected by U.S. copyright law is automatically entitled to the same copyright protection in other countries. Registration is not required but, every bit noted before, only registered copyrights are eligible for statutory damages and attorney and court fees.

Fifty-fifty though information technology is not mandatory, copyright registration provides valuable legal protection. It makes information technology easier for other people to find your protected cloth. Information technology can help yous avoid expensive and timely litigation. And it is essential if you ever find yourself filing an infringement lawsuit.