The short answer is yes: You need to obtain a license pay a fee the copyright owners of the songs. (A song’s copyright owner will be the songwriter or, more usually, the music publishing company that published the song). But the copyright owner can’t deny you the license, known as a “mechanical license,” so long as you pay a fee, known as the “mechanical rate.”
In this article, we’ll explain what a mechanical license is, how to calculate the fee, and how to obtain the license.
The songwriter or music publisher has complete control over the original recording of a song. But once the songwriter has made an original recording, or authorized another musician to make an original recording, any musician can make a cover version of it so long as:
A mechanical license isn’t needed for songs that are in the public domain and not protected by copyright.
Here are two examples of cover songs, one that qualifies for the mechanical license and one that doesn’t. The key consideration here is how much the cover version strays from the original.
Example 1: Imagine that Fran writes and releases the song “Up the Stairs.” Later, Cappy decides she wants to record “Up the Stairs” with a slightly different arrangement but in a way that’s fundamentally the same as Fran’s original. If Cappy is willing to pay the statutory fee (covered below), she doesn’t need to ask Fran for permission—she can move forward with a mechanical license. But if she wants to pay less per copy of her version of the song, she must get permission from Fran and negotiate a lower rate.
Example 2: Suppose Sammy composes and records a country ballad. Later, Pauline, a punk rap star, acquires a compulsory license and records Sammy’s song but changes the words and eliminates the melody. Sammy can have Pauline’s compulsory license revoked and prevent the recording from being distributed further or played. As explained above, the compulsory license doesn’t apply to substantial deviations from the original song. (Pauline should have gotten permission from Sammy to use the song in this way.)
The mechanical license fee is based on the “statutory rate” or the “mechanical rate,” which is set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) of the U.S. Copyright Office. The fee from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2027 is:
The mechanical royalty is based on the number of recordings produced, not the number ultimately sold.
There are two ways to obtain a mechanical license and pay the royalty:
Direct licensing isn’t common for independent musicians (those not signed with a record label). Independent musicians generally obtain mechanical licenses from the kinds of intermediary services noted above.
You can get helpful information about mechanical licensing from Copyright Office Circular 73, Compulsory License for Making and Distributing Phonorecords. If you want to learn more about music law generally, read Nolo’s Music Law: How to Run Your Band’s Business by Richard Stim.
]]>A copyright notice should be placed on all copies of your source code and all software products. Although not mandatory, using such notices costs nothing and may help to deter infringement, because the notice advises third parties that the work is protected by copyright and cannot be copied without your permission.
Notices can also help you win greater money damages if you successfully sue someone for copying your software.
Under copyright law, you don’t need the notice to have a valid copyright in your software. Copyright exists as soon as you create the code and continues to exist whether or not you put a copyright notice on distributed copies of your software. The purpose of the notice is to notify third parties that you are aware of your rights and intend to enforce them. In other words, the main goal of the copyright notice is to deter copyright infringement.
There are technical requirements as to what a copyright notice must contain if it's to serve its purpose of preventing an innocent infringer defense ("I had no idea this code belonged to you!"). The U.S. Copyright Office has published a helpful guide to understanding the permissible text.
A valid copyright notice contains three elements:
For example, the copyright notice might read: "© 20xx, Jane Doe." It is not required that these elements appear in any particular order in the notice, but most notices are written in the order set forth above. Some copyright notices will include additional language like “All rights reserved.” For example: “© 20xx Jane Doe. All rights reserved.”
No matter how you distribute your software—downloads, online (known as software as a service or SaaS), or physical copies—you should find a way to put a copyright notice on it. For downloaded or online software, put the copyright notice on the opening screen of the software.
If the software is on physical media, such as a DVD, every component of a published software package should contain a copyright notice. This includes:
A copyright notice should appear somewhere on the box; often on the back of the box, but you can also place it on the front or sides. The notice will apply to your cover art and graphics as well as to the software and other materials inside the box or package.
Although fewer and fewer companies use CDs and DVDs to sell software (preferring direct downloads), these remain important sales mechanisms. A copyright notice should be printed on a label permanently affixed to CDs, DVDs, or other media containing the software.
One way to make money from your software is to license the source code to others for further development or incorporation into their software products. If you license or otherwise distribute your source code you should, at a minimum include a copyright notice before the first line of code and after the last line of code.
When someone copies or adapts your software without your permission, and if their use isn’t fair use, they commit copyright infringement. If you find yourself in this situation, consult a copyright or business attorney for advice on how to proceed.
]]>The basic rules of copyright ownership are set forth in Section 201 of the Copyright Act of 1986 (17 U.S.C. § 201). In this article, we’ll discuss the rights that make up copyright, initial ownership of the copyright, and transfers of copyright rights.
First, it's helpful to review the various exclusive rights granted to copyright holders by Section 106 of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 106):
This bundle of rights allows a copyright owner to be flexible when deciding how to commercialize the work; the owner may keep those rights, or as discussed below, sell, assign, or license any of the rights by contract.
A work made for hire is a work made by an employee in the course of their employment, or by an independent contractor under contract. (17 U.S.C. § 101 (2022).) In each case, the employer—or the hiring party in the case of an independent contractor—owns the copyright in the work.
Technically, the employer or hiring party is treated as the creator for copyright ownership purposes. In other words, the employer or hiring party owns the copyright in the work the moment it’s created—the employee or independent contractor never owned any rights in it.
A work created by an employee as part of their job is a work made for hire, and the employer automatically owns the copyright.
To understand what the “scope of employment” means for these purposes, it helps to look at an example. Suppose Ana is a graphic designer for a large museum. She creates invitations for the museum's galas, posters for the museum's shows, and designs for its website. Even though Ana did all of this work herself using her own skills and creativity, those tasks were part of her job. The museum owns the copyright to all of Ana's designs.
But assume that Ana has a side business in which she designs book covers for self-published authors. The museum owns no rights in the books covers, as they are clearly separate from, and thereby outside the scope of, Ana’s museum job.
Many scope-of-employment questions are more complicated than this example, though. If an employer or employee is unsure whether certain work falls within the scope of employment, a conversation between the two is in order. A written agreement on this point now could save a lot of legal headaches down the road.
A work made by an independent contractor is a work made for hire only if the contractor and the hiring party have a written agreement stating as much and the work falls into one of the following categories. The work must be one of the following:
If the work falls under one of these categories, the hiring party must still have a written contract with the independent contractor stating that the work is work made for hire. The contract should include the phrase “work made for hire” (or “work for hire”). Some contracts expand the phrase to something along the lines of “work made for hire, as that term is defined under U.S. copyright law.”
Now that we’ve covered works made for hire, you might wonder about another copyright issue involving multiple parties: who owns the copyright when two or more people have contributed to a work.
When two or more authors create something together with the intent to combine their contributions into a single, unified work, the work is considered "joint work," and its authors are joint copyright owners.
A song for which one partner writes the lyrics and the other partner sets the lyrics to music is a simple example of a joint work. If the two songwriters worked more collaboratively, literally writing the song together in the studio, with each contributing to the words and music, the song would also be a joint work.
Each joint copyright owner has the right to register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office and to bring a lawsuit against third parties for copyright infringement. Unless the joint owners sign a written agreement to the contrary, each copyright owner has the right to commercially exploit the copyright, provided that the other copyright owners get an equal share of the proceeds. Joint owners can’t, however, license exclusive rights in the work to third parties without the consent of the other joint owners.
A copyright owner can transfer the copyright itself, sometimes described in the transfer document as “all right, title, and interest in the work, including all rights under copyright.” This type of transfer is also known as an assignment of the copyright, and it is frequently done as part of a sale of the copyright.
Copyrights can be bought and sold in the United States, just like other property rights (such as real property, personal property, or rights under a contract). For example, a photographer can sell the copyright to a photograph to a magazine for a lump sum, or an artist can sell a design to a company for use as its website background.
If the work has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, the assignee should record an assignment of the copyright there.
Here are some other ways an entire copyright can be transferred:
When a copyright owner wishes to commercially exploit their copyrighted work, they might work with a publisher or distributor to bring the work to market. Or they might grant adaptation rights, such as film adaptation rights, to a production company. These arrangements might include an assignment of the copyright, but more commonly they will involve a limited transfer of rights, known as a license.
For example, the owner may restrict the license:
A license can be exclusive or non-exclusive. If a license is exclusive, the copyright owner can’t license those specific rights to another person or entity (or, usually, exercise those rights on their own).
For example, if you license exclusive North American publishing rights to your work to XYZ Publishing Inc., only XYZ Publishing can publish the work in the North America.
If the license is non-exclusive, the copyright owner can license the same rights to others. For example, you could license merchandising rights in your copyrighted photograph to multiple t-shirt companies.
For more information on licensing copyrighted works, including exclusive licensing, see Should You License or Assign Your Art?
]]>This is the case with so-called “joint works” and “collective works.” Each of these categories is treated somewhat differently under the Copyright Act of 1976. If you collaborate with others in producing creative works, it is important for you (and your collaborators) to understand your respective intellectual property rights.
The U.S. Copyright Act defines a joint work as one “prepared by two or more authors with the intention that their contributions be merged into inseparable or interdependent parts of a unitary whole.”
Basically, any intentional collaboration between two or more people who aim to combine their contributions into a unified work are considered joint copyright owners. A co-authored book or musical would be two of the most common examples of joint authorship resulting in a joint copyright.
According to 17 U.S.C. § 201(a), “authors of a joint work are co-owners of copyright in the work.” In other words, each of them is separately entitled to all the exclusive rights typically afforded to a single copyright owner. Each author is, for example, able to copy, perform, and display the work without liability for infringement.
The U.S. Copyright Office considers joint copyright owners to have an equal right to register and enforce the copyright.
Joint creators can also decide, by contract, that only one of the creators will retain the copyright. For example, if two people collaborate on a book, but one pays the other $10,000 in exchange for an assignment of that person’s copyright interest, such an arrangement is perfectly acceptable. Intellectual property, like tangible property, can be bought and sold.
Co-creators often work closely together, and it is not uncommon that they share a "real-life" relationship—that is, they are often colleagues or close friends. That close relationship is often why the creative partnership works so well. The parties know one another and understand their complementary skills.
However, that close relationship is also why co-creators sometimes fail to raise the many awkward aspects of any joint enterprise. Who will do what portion of the work? Who will be paid what revenue? How will costs be split between the parties? Such topics can be taboo in friendships, but are critically important to a successful partnership.
The best time to discuss the relationship between and among co-creators is at the beginning of the creative relationship. Before launching into actual creation, particularly of a time-intensive or complicated work (an album, a book, a movie), it behooves all co-creators to have a detailed discussion about the intellectual property ownership rights in whatever will be created.
Such a conversation might be awkward, but can save significant time and friction over the long run.
A simple written agreement at the outset of the relationship can help to prevent major conflicts. It offers a full and fair opportunity for both sides to discuss critical issues (and sometimes with their respective attorneys).
What should be contained in a joint copyright agreement? While the list is long, here are some important topics to consider:
Depending on the specific situation and the nature of your creative work, there might be many other considerations to include in your joint copyright ownership agreement. But these should serve as a starting point to begin your thought process. Typically, the more detailed your initial conversations, the smoother your relationship with your co-creators will be.
The Copyright Act defines a collective work as one, "in which a number of contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole.” It gives the examples of a periodical issue, an anthology, or an encyclopedia.
Basically, every one of these contributors gets his or her own copyright, which is different from the copyright for the entire volume or work.
As 17 U.S.C. § 201(c) puts it, copyright in each separate contribution to a collective work "is distinct from copyright in the collective work as a whole, and vests initially in the author of the contribution.” Unless there is a specific written transfer of the copyright, the owner of the copyright in the collective work “is presumed to have acquired only the privilege of reproducing and distributing the [individual contributions] as part of that particular collective work… and any later collective work in the same series.”
The key aspect of authorship in a collective work is the assembling of independent creative works (such as photographs, articles, and so on) into a unified new whole. For copyright purposes, that unified creation is its own protectable work. Unlike a joint work, where the contributions of many authors meld into a single creative work (such as a co-written book), the constituent elements of a collective work are easily separated (such as photographs in a collage). The copyright owner of those individual photos retains the rights to them individually, but the copyright owner of the collage controls the collective work.
As you've likely noticed, the creator of a joint work typically has far broader copyright protection than a contributor to a collective work. The former has an ownership interest in the full work, whereas the latter has only an ownership interest in his or her own piece of the larger collective pie.
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Musicians must consider these sorts of practical issues, especially if they aim to make a living from their creative work. Below are ten tips to help manage the legal and business sides of your songwriting.
Musicians are often working in groups. One person might write the lyrics, another might write the melody, and others might play and record the finished product.
If you are writing with collaborators, as soon as you finish a song, you should agree with them about how to split potential revenues. Does the lead vocalist make as much as the lead guitarist? What about the person who did the audio mixing? How much time and work did each put into the song?
These questions can lead to difficult and sometimes emotional conversations. That is precisely why it is important to have these conversations early, well before streams of revenue begin flowing in or hard feelings arise. If you wait until after you have revenue, you could end up sorting out money and payments with band members who have long since left the group, or who've become more self-interested.
Many bands also include non-writing members as having a right to any income. Unless you resolve these splits of credit and revenue now, you may end up having difficult arguments once the song receives broader distribution.
A songwriting copyright is awarded to those who jointly contributed to the song's structure, chord progressions, and lyrics. This can be anyone, even the members of the rhythm section. (In many songs, especially in rock, pop, and dance music, a bass or drum part is so integral to the song that it becomes as important as the melody).
The best way to decide who gets credit is either for the members of the band to determine who wrote the songs, or to ignore the traditional rules and share equally (or by some other formula) in all band-written tunes.
Merely writing a song is not enough to get it played on the radio or in clubs. You will need to promote it! Just be sure that you promote it with explicit copyright details. Once you've established who wrote a song, publicize the names and how to contact you or your music publisher.
When preparing music for downloads (usually as MP3s, AACs, or WMAs) make use of the text tags that allow you to encode the names of the songwriters and any related copyright information. Ditto for any websites or online materials. This will help to keep the members' rights relatively equal and clear. It will also avoid situations where contributors feel that their contributions are being sidelined and ignored, which can lead to conflict.
Having trouble writing a catchy tune or making money? You might try the approach of Vera Matson, who took a civil war song, "Aura Lee," and added her own lyrics. The result was "Love Me Tender," a monster hit for Elvis Presley and many other artists. Older music (published before 1923) like "Aura Lee" is not protected by copyright, and therefore is said to be in the "public domain." It's free for anyone to copy.
Others may use these tunes as well, but cannot copy the unique elements that you add. For more information about locating tunes in the public domain, consult Stephen Fishman's book The Public Domain: How to Find Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More (Nolo).
BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) and ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) are known as the most influential performance rights organizations. They monitor radio and television stations, nightclubs, websites, and other entities that play music.
They collect royalties from these places, and pay the royalties directly to the music publishers and songwriters (so you get payments directly, not your publisher or manager). Be sure to register with BMI or ASCAP and keep your information current.
"Don't give up your copyright," is the cry often heard from musicians and songwriters. Yes, it's true that the music business is rife with tales of woe about songwriters like Richard Berry, who gave up his copyright for "Louie, Louie" for $750. (Berry eventually won a $2 million court judgment over the song.)
The reality is that just about every songwriter who signs with a major music publisher gives up the copyright to the song. In return, the publisher pays the songwriter a hefty portion of the royalties over the life of the copyright. Often, the songwriter, not the music publisher, earns the bigger share of the songwriting royalties and benefits from the music publisher's hustle.
The bottom line: If you're dealing with a reputable music publisher, do not be afraid to sign off on copyright, especially if an experienced entertainment attorney examines the deal for you. Especially as an unknown musician, you should be aware that your ability to bargain is somewhat constrained by these industry norms. (Check out Nolo's guide to Hiring an Entertainment Lawyer, to ensure that you have proper counsel when making this sort of decision.)
Changes in technology have altered the ways in which songs earn money. One of the biggest sources for music listening hours, for example, is video games.
In addition, advertising agencies, motion picture and TV companies, and Internet websites have all opened up new licensing opportunities. For example, MTV discovered one songwriter at MP3.com and licensed his music for background in its Real World television series, resulting in payments from MTV and later from BMI.
If you create your own music publishing company, you will receive 100% of the songwriting revenue. If you sell your song to an existing music publisher, you'll probably earn 60-75% of the song revenue.
But do not assume that getting a larger percentage of the revenue is always better. An established publisher might be better equipped to get you deals, especially lucrative ones, such as placing your songs in a movie or an advertisement.
You do not actually have to register your music with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to get copyright protection. In most countries, including the U.S. and Canada, all that is required for a song to be copyrighted is that it be "original" and "fixed."
"Original" means that the song is original to the writer and that it was not copied from another source. A work is "fixed" when it exists in some tangible manner such as sheet music, a tape recording, or saved onto a computer disk.
Although copyright registration is not necessary to protect your song, it can help protect it from infringement, especially if your song is registered prior to an infringement or within three months of its release (you may be able to recover more money from an infringer in that case).
For more information on copyright registration, check out the website of the U.S. Copyright Office, which is the federal agency managing copyright registrations for music as well as visual and performing arts creations.
If you regularly use part of your home exclusively to compose and record your songs, and you have no other fixed location where you do such things, you can claim a home office tax deduction. How much you can claim toward your home office deduction depends on how much (what percentage) of your home you use as a home office or studio.
For example, if you use 20% of your home, you can allot 20% of your home office expenses (such as rent, depreciation, mortgage interest, property taxes, electricity, gas, insurance) to the home office deduction.
If you do take the home office deduction and then sell your home, however, you could lose the capital gains tax exemption on the home office portion of your home. This won't happen if you live in the home two out of the five years before you sell it.
For more information on the home office deduction, read IRS Publication 587, Business Use of Your Home or Nolo's book Deduct It!: Lower Your Small Business Taxes by Stephen Fishman.
]]>Fortunately, you do not need to hire an expensive lawyer to draft a software development contract. Whether you are the client or the developer, you can do it yourself. While this article does not cover all possible nuances of software contracts, it does provide an overview of some of the most important points that should be covered by any software development agreement.
Among the most frequent areas of dispute between clients and developers is the timeline. Thus, the schedule for work and benchmarks should be agreed upon at the outset of the relationship to avoid miscommunication and conflict later.
The agreement should clearly break the project down into discrete parts or stages, often called phases or "milestones." It should require the developer to deliver an acceptable product at the end of each stage in order to get paid a specified amount. This makes it easier for both sides to monitor the developer's progress and resolve problems early on in the project, or even terminate the project if the relationship is not working.
Advantage for software client. Getting the work in phases avoids the danger of getting an unsatisfactory product at the very end. It also gives the client the opportunity to comment on work, and keeps the project moving forward on schedule.
Advantage for the developer. Having the client sign off on each phase of the project is the best way to avoid unwarranted claims of nonperformance or unsatisfactory performance by the client when the project is concluded. This approach also gives the developer an opportunity to deal with the client's changing needs and wants. Finally, partial payments with each milestone can ensure that the developer does not get "stiffed" in the end.
Software specifications are the software equivalent of a builder's blueprint. They attempt to define the software to be created and provide a guide for determining whether and when the software has been satisfactorily completed.
The more complete the specifications, the less likelihood of misunderstandings, which can lead to client dissatisfaction, withholding of payment, and possibly litigation. The specifications are the heart of any software development contract.
There are many ways to write specifications. One is to draft a "functional specification" in nontechnical language that the client can understand. The developer may also prepare a prototype or demonstration program to show the client how the software will look and function. Later, the developer should prepare a far more detailed and precise technical specification.
There are two basic ways to pay a developer for creating custom software: an hourly rate (known as a "time and materials" agreement) or a lump sum (known as a "fixed-price" agreement).
Time and materials agreement. Under a time and materials agreement, the client pays the developer for the time spent and actual costs incurred in creating the software. This payment scheme is often favored by developers, since the developer is assured of payment even if the project takes longer than originally anticipated. Hourly rates are common for many professionals outside of the software industry, including lawyers and accountants.
Fixed-price agreement. Under a fixed-price agreement, the client pays the developer a fixed sum for the entire project. In theory, this payment scheme favors the client by providing certainty as to what the project will cost. Moreover, if payments are tied to the progress of the developer's work, it gives the client substantial leverage to insist on timely and successful completion of the project.
However, as a practical matter, clients often agree to pay developers more money if the project takes more time than anticipated. Otherwise, the developer may quit or end up delivering a hastily completed and shoddy product.
One of the most important functions of a software development agreement is to establish who will own the intellectual property rights to the software to be created. This is often one of the most hotly contested issues between developer and client, and can easily become a deal-breaker.
Developers own the copyright to software unless the developer is the client's employee or the software is part of a larger work made for hire under a written agreement. In order to own the copyright, the client must have an agreement transferring ownership from the developer to the client.
There are many ownership options available, ranging from sole ownership by the client to ownership by the developer with the client's merely having a license to use the software. And there are many alternatives between these two extremes. Depending on the amount of money the developer is paid, any of these options can be satisfactory.
For more on who owns a copyright, see Copyright Ownership and Rights.
Software developers will normally have various development tools, routines, subroutines and other programs, data, and materials that they bring to the job and that might end up in the final product—for example, code used for window manipulation, displaying menus, data storing, and printing. One term for these items is "background technology."
If the developer transfers ownership of the software to the client, the client may end up owning this background technology as well. Developers should avoid this by making sure the development agreement provides that the developer retains all ownership rights in this material. But, in this event, the agreement should give the client a nonexclusive license to use the background technology that the developer includes in the software.
A warranty is a promise from the seller that the product will do what it is supposed to do for a specific or reasonable time period, and that the seller will fix or replace it if it does not. Warranty provisions are included in most custom software development contracts. However, since this is an area of active bargaining between developer and client, these provisions vary widely.
Warranty of software performance. Warranties of software performance are typical in many contracts, in wihch the developer promises that the software will work the way the developer said it would and will fix it free of charge if it doesn't. Such warranties typically last from 90 days to one year after the software is delivered. Developers should avoid making promises that their software will work indefinitely, or for multiple years, as the ongoing changes in surrounding technology can make such promises difficult to keep.
Other warranties. Others include warranties of:
Among the most important provision in any development contract is the procedure for resolving disputes. It is often advantageous to settle disputes without going to court, which can be extremely expensive and time-consuming. You can do this through a provision requiring arbitration or mediation.
Arbitration. In arbitration, a person or panel decides the merits of the issues and renders a decision, which may or may not be binding, depending on the language of the arbitration agreement. Many commercial contracts today include a binding arbitration provision. Be aware that, by agreeing to binding arbitration, you're likely giving up your right to go to court to enforce the contract.
Mediation. Mediation is less formal and cheaper than arbitration and, by its nature, is never binding. Typically, the mediator either sits the parties down together and tries to provide an objective view of their dispute or shuttles between the two sides as a cool conduit of what may be red-hot opinions.
For more on mediation, see the Mediation, Arbitration & Collaborative Law area of Nolo's website.
For detailed information on the laws covering software development, get Legal Guide to Web & Software Development, by Stephen Fishman.
]]>We’ll describe how to fill out the all-purpose Form CO which is probably your best choice for registering your app. It can be downloaded from the Copyright Office website and you fill it out on your computer (using Adobe Reader software) and print it.
(Alternatively, you can apply the principles in these articles and use the online filing system at the Copyright Office (known as “eCO”). That process has three parts. The applicant: (1) completes the online interview, (2) pays the fee (payment can be made by credit/debit card, ACH, or by setting up a deposit account), and (3) uploads or mails copies of the work. You will need to create a user account and password. The eCO system includes a special “Save for Later” feature that will preserve your work in the event you sign off and then sign on at a later time.)
We think you’ll find Form CO fairly easy to use and you can keep a copy for your records. One thing to keep in mind, after you fill it in and print out Form CO, do not alter it by hand. That’s because the information used by the Copyright Office is primarily stored in the barcodes on the form. If you want to register a series of software programs, keep the form open in Adobe Reader after you print it; then make the necessary changes and print the subsequent version, as well.
Below are instructions for completing Form CO. Some of this information is taken verbatim from the instructions provided by the Copyright Office. We won’t get sued because as you may know, all works prepared by employees of the U.S. government within the course of their employment are free to use and reproduce.
Okay, assuming you’ve downloaded Form CO, you will see a series of sections that need to be completed. Two things to remember as you proceed:
Learn more about employer-ownership of software programs.
Okay, here we go.
1A*- Type of work being registered. You can use one Form CO for all of the programs/works that you want to register. Check the appropriate box for the type of work (see below) which is either literary work (used for most programs), performing arts work (primarily for games and graphic intensive applications), or visual arts work (primarily a series of images). If your software program contains more than one type of authorship, choose the type for the predominant authorship in the work. Keep in mind that if you’re in doubt about how to characterize your code, literary work is your best bet.
If your application includes multiple media, you need to determine which elements are your original authorship. For example, if you only contributed some text and software code, and you licensed the rest from others, then you would only claim copyright (and seek registration) for what you created. You indicate that information in Form CO—the all purpose copyright application—in the section under ‘authorship.’ (Later, in Section 4A of the form you must list the items for which you are not claiming copyright.) Initially, with any copyright application you must establish what “category” of work you are registering. Most software programs are registered as ‘literary works’ – an anachronism dating back to the fact that source code is written in letters and numerals. However, if your software program is primarily pictures, choose ‘visual arts’ work, and if it is a graphics-heavy product like a game, choose ‘performing arts’ work. Don’t worry if your software program seems to straddle two categories—just pick the one that seems best to you.
1B* - Title of work. Enter the title of your program. Give the complete title exactly as it appears on the material about the software application. If there is no title copy, give an identifying phrase to serve as the title or state “untitled.” Use standard title capitalization without quotation marks; for example, Carrot Cake V11.2. If you want to include additional title(s)—for example, titles of individual works in an unpublished collection or works owned by the same claimant, click the “additional title” button.
1C - Serial issue. A serial is a work issued or intended to be issued in successive parts and intended to be continued indefinitely. You can leave this blank.
1D - Previous or alternative title. If the software application is known by another title, give that title here.
1E* - Year of completion. Give the year in which creation of the software application was completed—the date you stood back, looked at the sceen and said, “I’m done.” If the software application has been published (see below for more on publication), the year of completion cannot be later than the year of first publication.
The word “publication” has a broader meaning than you might expect in the copyright world. A work is considered to be published under copyright law if you sell, distribute or offer to sell or distribute copies of your software application to the public. When you display it for sale at a trade show, that’s also considered to be a publication.
1F–1H - Date of publication. Give the complete date, in mm/dd/yyyy format, on which the software application was first published. If you’re unsure, pick a date as close as reasonably possible. Do not give a date that is in the future. Leave this line blank if the software application is unpublished.
1G – ISBN. You can leave this blank.
1H - Nation of publication. Give the nation where the software application was first published. If the software application was first published simultaneously in the United States and another country; you can list the United States. Leave this line blank if the software application is unpublished.
1I - Published as a contribution in a larger work entitled. If this software application has been published as part of a larger work—for example, it’s one software application from a collection—enter the title of the larger work.
2A** or 2B – Personal name/Organization name. Complete either 2A or 2B but not both. The person who created the work is the “author.” Provide your name, unless you wish to be anonymous or pseudonymous. A co-author is someone who, at the time the work was created, made a copyrightable contribution. Complete section 2B only if the software application is made for hire in which case the hiring party is the author.
Learn more about works for hire and employer-employee authorship/ownership of software programs.
2C - Doing business as. You can leave this blank unless you’ve transferred software application ownership to a company using a DBA.
2D - Year of birth & 2E - Year of death. Give the year the author was born (and deceased, if applicable). The year of birth is optional but is very useful as a form of author identification because many authors have the same name. Your birth date will be made part of the online public Copyright Office records and cannot be removed later.
2F - Citizenship⁄domicile. Check the U.S. box if applicable, or if the author is a citizen of another country, enter the name of this nation. Alternatively, identify the nation where the author is domiciled (resides permanently). If you wish to remain anonymous (unlikely for most software program developers) and your name is given in line 2A, it will be made part of the online public records produced by the Copyright Office and accessible on the Internet. This information cannot be removed later from those public records.
2H* - This author created. Here you check the appropriate box(es) that describe this author’s contribution to this software application. Use any of the boxes – for example, computer program, music, photography—that apply. If you want to add more, give a brief statement on the line after “other” and be specific. The Copyright Office recommends against using terms such as idea, concept, title, or name.
3A** and 3B** - Personal name/Organization Name. Again, as with Section 2A and 2B, complete one or the other, but not both. Here we are listing the person or entity that owns the copyright—either the developer who created it, or the person or organization to which the copyright has been transferred by an author or other authorized copyright owner.
3C- Doing business as. You can leave this blank unless you’ve transferred software application ownership to a company using a DBA.
3D - Address, email, and phone. The claimant postal address will be made part of the online public Copyright records and cannot be removed later. However, the email address and phone number will not appear in the public record unless it is also included in section 5, Rights and Permissions Contact.
3E – Copyright ownership acquired by. If the claimant (the person claiming copyright ownership) is the same person as the author of the software application, skip this line. Transfer information is required if the claimant is not an author but has obtained ownership of the copyright from the author or another owner. In that case, check the appropriate box to indicate how ownership was acquired. When you check “Written agreement” that includes a transfer by assignment or by contract. “Will or inheritance” applies only if the person from whom copyright was transferred is deceased. If necessary, check “other” and give a brief statement indicating how copyright was transferred.
Because many software programs are derived from some other source, it’s possible you will need to complete this section. Here is where you disclose whether the work contains or is based on previously registered or previously published material, material in the public domain, or material not owned by this copyright claimant. The purpose of section 4 is to exclude that material from the claim and identify the new material upon which the present claim is based.
4A – Material excluded from this claim. Check the appropriate box or boxes to exclude any previously registered or previously published material, material in the public domain, or material not owned by this claimant. For example, if you were registering a software program that contains a public domain image of Charles Dickens, you would enter “public domain image of Charles Dickens” in the “Other” box.
4B – Previous registration. If the software application for which you are now seeking registration, or an earlier version of it, has been registered, give the registration number and the year of registration. If there have been multiple registrations, you may give information regarding the last two. If you are registering the first published version of a software application that is identical to a previously registered unpublished version (contains no new material not already registered), check the “other” box in line 4a and state "First publication of work registered as unpublished." In this case, skip line 4c.
4C - New material included in this claim. Check the appropriate box or boxes to identify the new material you are claiming in this registration. Again, you are only filling in this section if your work contains material by someone else. In section 4C, your goal is to indicate what you contributed. Give a brief statement on the line after “other” if it is necessary to give a more specific description of the new material included in this claim or if none of the check boxes applies.
The Compilation box. A compilation is a collection of material—for example, a software program titled “10 Best Mac Tools”—in which someone assembled, selected or organized the preexisting programs into one jumbo software program without transforming any of them. The author of a compilation seeks to protect the collection, not the individual works. A collection of your software applications is usually not a compilation, because you’re seeking to protect all of the individual works, not the manner in which they are arranged or selected. A claim in “compilation” does not include the material that has been compiled. If that material should also be included in the claim, check the appropriate additional boxes.
If you regularly create new versions of your software you can file new applications for each, being careful to indicate the previous versions in Section 4. You’re probably best off only bothering with applications for major revisions.
Form CO asks for a listing of the person to contact for permission to use the material. If this is the same as the copyright claimant, you can simply check the box and the information will be generated to complete this section. Again, all the information given in this section, including name, postal address, email address, and phone number, will be made part of the online records produced by the Copyright Office and cannot be removed later from those public records.
This is the person in your band that the Copyright Office should contact with any questions about this application. If this is the same as the first copyright claimant or the rights and permissions contact, simply check the appropriate box. (Information given only in this space will not appear in the online public record.)
This is the person to whom the registration certificate should be mailed. If this is the same as the first copyright claimant, the rights and permissions contact, or the correspondence contact, simply check the appropriate box. (Information given only in this space will not appear in the online public record.)
8A* - Handwritten signature. After you print out the completed application, be sure to sign it.
8B* - Printed name. Enter the name of the person who will sign the form.
8C*- Date signed. Choose “today’s date” or “write date by hand.” In the latter case, be sure to date the application by hand when you sign it. If your application gives a date of publication, do not certify using a date prior to the publication date.
8D - Deposit account. Leave this line blank unless you have a Copyright Office deposit account and are charging the filing fee to that account.
8E - Applicant's internal tracking number. If you have an internal tracking number, enter it here.
Once you complete the form, you must mail the completed application, your $50 fee (payable to the Register of Copyrights), and your deposit materials (see below) Send all three elements of your software application copyright application in the same envelope or package to:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20559-6233
Here’s where things can get a little murky. If you’re willing to file a copy of the source code with your application, then your copyright will extend to all manifestations of that source code—that is if the source identifies (or shows) your screen shots, then the screen shots will be included in the copyright. Some developers are not comfortable with furnishing all of the source code and prefer to file portions of the object code – that is the binary file (or in Java, the byte code). If that’s the case, we recommend reading Copyright Circular 61: Copyright Registration for Computer Programs as that document explains your choices.
Need help? The Copyright Office has done a nice job of explaining the process and making it user-friendly with a tutorial and FAQs. The eCO process is peppered with helpful drop down menus, as well as hypertext links that provide pop-up explanations for each aspect of the application process. The explanations for paper forms provided earlier in this section should aid you answering the online interview—for example, how to respond to questions regarding the nature of work, title, date of publication, etc.
You can expedite your filing. For an expedited handling fee of $805 ($760 plus the $50 filing fee – check current fees), the Copyright Office will process an application within five working days. You cannot choose this service for mere reasons of convenience; it is only allowed in urgent cases. Examples of an urgent need include: upcoming litigation, a pending customs matter, a looming contractual or a publishing deadline. You can request it using the form “Request for Special Handling,” included in Copyright Circular 10.
]]>Not exactly. Let's look at the problems with this approach.
Unfortunately, the process for registration of a federal copyright is more burdensome and formalized than the above legend would suggest. The notion of mailing oneself a creative work to obtain copyright protection is sometimes referred to as the "poor man's copyright."
But don't be fooled; the process will not yield you an enforceable copyright. And a copyright isn't much good if you can't bring suit to enforce it.
How did this rumor begin? It is true that to obtain a copyright over a creative work, all that you must do is reduce the work to a physical form. This means that you cannot simply copyright an idea for a painting, a song, or a movie—you must actually paint the painting, compose the song, and film the movie. Once the idea is reduced to physical form, you technically have a copyright over that creative work.
It's just that, to actually do anything with that copyright, you need a formal registration with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The U.S. Copyright Office is the federal agency charged with granting and administering all copyrights in the United States. Registration of one's work confers many benefits, including the ability to sue someone for infringing your work, in a federal court.
(Again, if you only write down your creative work and mail it to yourself, you cannot actually initiate litigation for infringement).
Registration also clearly and unequivocally establishes the date upon which you begin to "own" the work. This can be particularly important in situations of copyright infringement, where both sides will typically argue that they created the work before the other.
Fortunately, the Copyright Office's website makes the registration process fairly self-explanatory. You simply select the type of work you wish to register—such as literary work, visual work, photographs, and so forth—and follow the instructions.
The Electronic Copyright Office, known as "eCO," allows you to upload the work (as a PDF, JPEG, etc.), along with your application. Once submitted, the staff of the Copyright Office will review it and then, hopefully, approve your application and issue you a formal copyright certificate.
The Copyright Office will charge fees for your registration. Fees change each year, and depend on the nature of your intended registration, but typically run between $50 and $100.
In short, don't believe the rumors. In its FAQs, the U.S. Copyright Office itself explicitly reminds potential registrants that "There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration." Mailing yourself a copy of your creative work might feel like a clever workaround of the legal system, but in fact, you might be shooting yourself in the foot.
Learn more about copyright and the benefits of registration.
]]>I am an aspiring cartoonist, although my work has not yet published. My goal is to place my work in magazines or newspapers. However, I already have a broad portfolio of work, which I eventually plan to submit to editors. Before I do, what kinds of intellectual property protection do I need in order to secure my rights to the cartoons?
Anyone who makes creative work must consider their intellectual property rights. After all, if you are a painter, architect, or musician, sitting back while infringers "steal" your work could mean you lose a critical source of income or recognition.
Fortunately, copyright law is a helpful tool for protecting your creative output and helping the world realize that you are the one behind it.
Many artists are surprised to learn that copyright law protects their creations immediately, as soon as pen is set to paper (or brush to canvas, or fingers to keyboard), without any need for forms or lawyers.
You already have a copyright on your cartoons simply by having fixed them on paper.
But that legal entitlement is often not enough. How will you prove that you created a work, as well as the fact that you created it before, not after the infringer?
Here, the easiest solution is to register your works with the U.S. Copyright Office, the federal agency charged with the administration of copyrights. Although registration is not mandatory, there are several benefits to federal registration:
Registration of a copyright on artwork (known to the Copyright Office as "Visual Art") is pretty simple. No lawyers are required.
You can register your cartoon by submitting application Form VA to the U.S. Copyright Office, along with a $45 fee (2019 figure) and the appropriate deposit materials. Note that registration fees may increase from year to year.
Visual artwork can even be registered online, if you have a digital image.
What if you have dozens of cartoons already drawn? Do you need to register each one individually? Fortunately, no. If you have been prolific, you can go ahead and register a whole group of unpublished cartoons for the same basic filing fee.
While at the Copyright Office website, you can get more information by downloading Circular 44, Cartoons and Comic Strips, and Circular 40, Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts.
Beyond copyright registration, it is also good practice to place the familiar copyright notice (for example, Copyright © 2019 First/Last Name) on each published copy of your cartoon. This tells anyone who sees the work that the copyright is being claimed, the name of the person claiming it, and when the work was first published.
The presence of this mark prevents an infringer from later claiming that the infringement was accidental. And hopefully, it scares them away from infringing in the first place!
You can register your copyright by filing a simple form and depositing one or two samples of the work (depending on the nature of the material) with the U.S. Copyright Office.
There are different forms for different types of works. For example, Form TX is for literary works while Form VA is for a visual art work. Forms and instructions may be obtained from the U.S. Copyright Office's website or through their telephone helpline at 202-707-9100.
Most single registrations cost either $35 or $55, depending on the nature of the work. If you're registering several works that are part of one series, you may be able to save money by registering the works together (called "group registration"). Check the Copyright Office's Fee Schedule.
For detailed information on the registration process, see The Copyright Handbook by Stephen Fishman (Nolo).
Until 1989, a published work had to contain a valid copyright notice to receive protection under the copyright laws. But this requirement is no longer in force. Works first published after March 1, 1989 need not include a copyright notice to gain protection under the law.
But even though a copyright notice is not required, it's still wise to include one. When a work contains a valid notice, an infringer cannot claim in court that he or she didn't know it was copyrighted. This makes it much easier to win a copyright infringement case and perhaps collect enough damages to make the cost of the case worthwhile.
And the very existence of a notice might discourage infringement, since would-be infringers would realize that you are cognizant of your intellectual property rights.
Finally, including a copyright notice may make it easier for a potential infringer to track down a copyright owner and legitimately obtain permission to use the work.
A copyright notice should contain:
Any of these usages would do the trick. There is no single "magic word" that needs to be used from among this list.
If someone violates the rights of a copyright owner, the owner is entitled to file a lawsuit in federal court asking the court to:
Whether the lawsuit will be effective and whether damages will be awarded depends on whether the alleged infringer can raise one or more legal defenses to the charge.
Common legal defenses to copyright infringement include:
If someone has good reason to believe that the use qualifies as fair use, but later finds him- or herself on the wrong end of a court order, the person is likely to be considered an innocent infringer at worst. Innocent infringers usually do not have to pay any damages to the copyright owner, but do have to cease the infringing activity or pay the owner for the reasonable commercial value of that use. Note that this requires a genuine good faith belief that the use was fair.
Copyright protection rules are fairly similar worldwide, due to several international copyright treaties. The most important of these is the Berne Convention. Under this treaty, all 100+ member countries must afford copyright protection to authors who are nationals of any member country.
All countries in the Berne Convention must offer copyright protection that lasts for at least the life of the author plus 50 years, and it must be automatic, without the need for the author to take legal steps to preserve the copyright.
In addition to the Berne Convention, the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) treaty contains a number of provisions that affect copyright protection in signatory countries.
Together, the Berne Copyright Convention and the GATT treaty allow U.S. authors to enforce their copyrights in most industrialized nations, and allow the nationals of those nations to enforce their copyrights in the United States.
Copyright registration is not required, but it is often a wise idea. You must register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office before you are legally permitted to bring a lawsuit to enforce it. Fortunately, the registration process is relatively inexpensive and straightforward.
You can register a copyright at any time, but registering it promptly may pay off in the long run. "Timely registration"--that is, registration within three months of the work's publication date or before any copyright infringement actually begins--makes it much easier to sue and recover money from an infringer.
Specifically, timely registration creates a legal presumption that your copyright is valid, and allows you to recover up to $150,000 (and possibly lawyer fees) without having to prove any actual monetary harm.
Warcraft. Fortnite. The Legend of Zelda. It is no secret that video games tend to have catchy and unique names. In many cases, the names include particular characters, such as Super Mario Brothers. In other cases, they use fanciful or evocative terms such as Tetris.
But in all cases, the name of a video game should be memorable to the relevant consumer population. Once you devise such a name, you will want to protect it so that another competitor, a fellow game-maker, cannot steal it. The best way of doing this is to register for federal trademark protection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
By following the USPTO's online guide to trademark registration, you will see that you can register the name of products (such as a game). If you have a company, such as an LLC or partnership entity, you might wish to separately register that name as a trademark at the same time. For example, if your business name is "Wild Games LLC," and your video game is "Into the Wild: Forest of Fear," both of these could be separate trademarks.
Note that you can also register any logo or pictorial mark that identifies the game (or your company) in the marketplace. Among the most famous examples of this might be the green Xbox logo or the "PS" PlayStation logo.
Be conscious of avoiding using profanity or derogatory terminology in your game (whether in the name, the plot, or the characters). To distribute your game, you might need to rely upon third parties, such as the Apple AppStore, which have their own requirements and prohibitions on certain language.
Moreover, if your video game has such language, you could alienate certain consumers, such as parents and smaller children.
Copyright law protects original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression. In plain English, that means that copyright law protects creations that are written down or somehow recorded. Video games actually include many separate elements that could be the subject of independent copyrights.
Copyrights can be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, the federal agency charged with the administration of copyrights. In a video game, you would be able to obtain separate protections on the illustrations, software code, music/score, and even the script (that is, what the characters say).
An important note: The copyright is, broadly speaking, owned by whoever actually creates the work in question. Many video game designers do not actually make every element of their game. They may hire a musician to create the score, a coder to design the game, an illustrator to render the characters, and a writer to devise an interesting plot. All of these individuals would technically be able to copyright different bits and pieces of "your" game, which you likely do not want to occur.
To prevent any ambiguity, be sure that you have written agreements with these third parties indicating that you are paying them a set fee in exchange for making a work-for-hire. A simple agreement can ensure that you retain all intellectual property rights in whatever that third party contributes to your video game (typically in exchange for payment).
You might wonder whether you can use copyright law to protect the individual characters in your video game. Like all too many legal questions, the answer is "maybe."
Copyright law basically protects only characters who are very heavily defined, typically after they have already appeared in numerous cartoons, movies, or games.
Copyright law also will not protect so-called "stock characters"—those who are generic in their appearance or traits. For example, you cannot obtain a copyright on a blond princess who wears a pink dress. You cannot obtain a copyright on a classic-looking vampire with dark hair and a purple cape. And you cannot obtain a copyright on a muscly superhero with the power of flight. All of these are too generic to qualify for protection, and the Copyright Office would likely reject applications for copyrights on them.
If, however, you develop a deep and highly specific character, and that character appears in many sequential games and other media, it is possible that you could eventually seek independent protection on that character.
]]>Let's imagine that you are an illustrator, and you make your living by selling and reprinting your artwork. One day, you discover that someone has taken one of your original drawings and reproduced it on T-shirts and posters, which are being sold online, all without your permission. You are sufficiently upset, not to mention affected financially, that you file a lawsuit.
How would the court determine your monetary damages in this situation? Money damages in copyright infringement actions are commonly awarded under some combination of three legal theories:
Like all litigation, copyright litigation is both time-consuming and expensive. Before you decide to find a copyright attorney and file a lawsuit, it's helpful to understand these three categories of damages, so that you can evaluate your potential recovery.
Sometimes known as compensatory damages, "actual damages" consist of the dollar amount of any demonstrable loss the copyright owner suffered as a result of the infringing activity. This loss may be from lost sales, lost licensing revenue, or any other provable financial loss directly attributable to the infringement.
Federal law (17 U.S.C. § 504(b)) provides: "The copyright owner is entitled to recover the actual damages suffered ... as a result of the infringement, and any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the infringement and are not taken into account in computing the actual damages. In establishing the infringer’s profits, the copyright owner is required to present proof only of the infringer’s gross revenue, and the infringer is required to prove his or her deductible expenses and the elements of profit attributable to factors other than the copyrighted work."
In the example above, your actual damages would be your lost revenue as a result of the infringer taking your painting and reproducing it on T-shirts. These calculations are imperfect, of course; you could argue that your sales decreased by a certain percentage during the period that the infringer was selling the T-shirts, though such causation is not always clear.
Usually, plaintiffs in infringement actions offer expert testimony to establish their actual financial damages to the court.
This second form of copyright damages consists of any money the infringer earned as a result of the infringement. These damages are awarded only if they exceed the amount of profits lost by the copyright owner (actual damages) as a result of the infringement.
For example, imagine that a book on self-defense, authored by Susan, contains a practical chapter on how to purchase and care for a handgun. Rachel also writes a book on self-defense and substantially "borrows" from Susan’s chapter on handguns without first obtaining her permission. Rachel has infringed Susan’s copyright over her original writing.
A court could award Susan actual damages if Susan proves that she lost sales of her book because people bought Rachel’s book instead, at least in part because of the handgun chapter. Alternatively, if Susan has licensed chapters of her books to other authors, the amount she typically receives for such licensing could be her actual damages. In addition, the court could award Susan any profits that Rachel realized from the infringement to the extent such profits exceeded the amount of Susan’s lost profits.
In many copyright cases, both actual damages and profits are difficult to prove. How do you really know how many T-shirts you would have sold, or how much money you lost, as a result of someone's infringement? At best, the numbers are murky.
For that reason, the Copyright Act provides for a third category, known as statutory damages—that is, specific monetary damages set by law. However, only a person who has registered a work with the U.S. Copyright Office before the infringement (or within three months of publication) may receive statutory damages.
Such a plaintiff in an infringement action may opt for either actual damages (and the infringer’s profits, if appropriate) or statutory damages, but not both. It is often said that copyright plaintiffs must "elect their remedy."
Statutory damages are explained in 17 U.S.C. § 504(c). For infringements that cannot clearly be proven as either innocent or willful, statutory damages may be from $750 to $30,000 per infringement. The exact amount depends on the seriousness of the infringing act and the financial worth of the infringer.
On the other hand, an innocent infringer may have to pay as little as $200, while an intentional infringer may have to pay as much as $150,000 for a single infringement of one work.
In short, statutory damages provide a clearly defined remedy for victims of infringement without the murkiness and uncertainty of the first two categories of damages.
]]>In the United States, creators of original works are granted copyright protection through the Copyright Act of 1976. Specifically, 17 U.S. Code § 106 grants creators certain exclusive rights to their work, including the right to reproduce, perform, and distribute the work.
What does this mean in practice? If you hold the copyright on your painting, for example, then a nefarious third party cannot simply photocopy your painting and sell posters of it without your permission. This sort of conduct would constitute copyright infringement and subject the infringer to damages.
Interestingly, copyright can attach to many types of creative works, such as paintings, photographs, architecture, sculpture, music, lyrics, sculpture, and software code. In some cases, it can even cover performance arts like dance and yoga.
Copyright law has many complexities. For example, you might not be permitted to obtain a copyright in a creative work that you yourself created if you did so "for hire." For instance, if you work as a graphic designer at an advertising agency, you are unlikely to be able to copyright the ads that you design. Rather, the copyright protection will accrue to your employer. Learn more about ownership of copyrights.
If you believe that you are entitled to a copyright for the creation of a work, then you might consider registering that work. Copyrights are registered and maintained by the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, DC. Registration has a number of benefits. First, the law requires that you have a registration on your work filed with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to sue someone for infringement. Put differently, you cannot march into court and file a lawsuit seeking to protect a nonregistered creative work.
Second, copyright registration allows you to put the well-known "©" symbol on your work. This copyright symbol will immediately scare away many potential infringers, who see that you are taking your intellectual property rights seriously. (They may think twice about infringing, in other words, if they believe that they might be sued.)
Copyright registration is not terribly complicated. The Copyright Office makes registration fairly easy, so that most creators do not need to hire an attorney to secure their registration.
How do you begin the process? Simply go to the Registration Portal of the Copyright Office's website. It allows you to select the specific type of creative work you seek to register, with such choices as literary works, visual arts, photographs, or performance. The registration process is slightly different for each of these genres, but the basic principles are the same.
Each of the portals on the website will lead you to the Electronic Copyright Office (known as "ECO" for short). In ECO, you will fill out the formal copyright application. Most of the required information is self explanatory. You will need to provide your name, address, and information about the work, as well as a copy of the work itself (perhaps on CD or DVD).
Note that the work does not need to be published in order for you to obtain copyright protection.
Still have questions? Read the helpful FAQs on the website; if you have additional questions, you can also call the clerks at the Copyright Office at 202-707–3000.
Be aware that copyright filings are not free. You must pay fees to the Copyright Office for each registration, according to the published fee schedule. Fortunately, these fees are relatively nominal. Most applications will cost less than $100 in total (note that fees will change annually).
In short, copyright registration is a relatively straightforward and inexpensive process that makes sense for many artists and authors.
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