Why is a Copyright Registration Important...

and What is Involved in the Copyright Registration Process?

A copyright is the protection that is afforded a work that is fixed in a tangible medium. Copyright laws grant the creator of the "work" the exclusive right to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute, perform and display the work publicly.

In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright.

Even though copyright registration is not a requirement for protection of your work of authorship, the copyright law provides several benefits of copyright registration. Among these benefits are the following:

Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.
If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies.
Registration may be made at any time within the life of the copyright. Unlike the law before 1978, when a work has been registered in unpublished form, it is not necessary to make another registration when the work becomes published, although the copyright owner may register the published edition, if desired.

USEFUL COPYRIGHT HINTS:

Copyright Notice can be given in the following manner:
"© Copyright 2005. ABC, Inc."

Any person or entity who creates or contributes to the creation of a work may be considered an author.

A copyright registration is effective on the date the Copyright Office receives all the required elements in acceptable form, regardless of how long it then takes to process the application and mail the certificate of registration.

The year in which the work was completed is the year that the author of the work either completed production or finished work.

A derivative work can take the form of "any...work [that] may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications which, as a whole, represents an original work of authorship, is a 'derivative work.'" 17 U.S.C. § 101 (1994).

Deposit material is the material submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office with your application.

A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978 is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 70 years after the author's death.

THE COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION PROCESS:

The first step is to submit the appropriate copyright application with the necessary deposit material to the Copyright Office. The copyright registration fee is $50.00

Your registration becomes effective on the date the Copyright Office receives all the required elements in acceptable form, regardless of how long it takes to process the application.

You will not receive an acknowledgment that your application has been received.

If further information is needed, you will receive a letter or a telephone call from a Copyright Office staff member. It is possible, too, that your copyright application could be rejected. If this occurs, you will receive a letter from a Copyright Office staff member explaining the reason for rejection.

If everything is in order with your copyright application, you will receive a Certificate of Registration in the mail within approximately 4-7 months. Since your registration is effective the date it is received by the Copyright Office, about 2 weeks after you've mailed your application, you can call the Copyright Office and they will give you your Certificate Registration number over the telephone if there are no problems.

To down load the copyright forms you need visit here Copyright forms

Contributed by Deborah Sweeney, Esq., Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs
Corporation Business Services, Inc.