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About
Copyright
Registrations
Copyright
registration is not a condition for copyright protection. Registration is
a legal formality intended to provide a public record of the copyright's basic
facts, and although optional, there are at times critical advantages secured
when you register your copyright, including:
1.
Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim. And that
public record can be certified by the Copyright Office both as to content and
date, when that is needed to establish and/or protect your copyright.
Having made that public record before any disputes arise can be invaluable.
2.
Registration is required before an infringement action may be filed in court.
If and when a need to file, or to threaten, a lawsuit arises, you are capable of
doing so, and doing so immediately if you choose. If, on the other hand,
your copyright is not yet registered, you must first seek registration and wait
months -- whatever time required -- for the registration to issue -- and that
delay can be disastrous (see #4 below).
3.
Registration prior to an infringement, or within three months of
publication (even if not prior the infringement) allows you to seek
statutory damages and attorney fees, instead of just actual damages or profits
(both of which are often difficult or impossible to prove, or down right
nonexistent). Without this edge many people and businesses will not be
able to afford the cost of an infringement lawsuit. And it will be too
late to rectify a "pound-foolish" mistake when someone infringes your copyright.
4.
Registration allows that registration to be recorded with U.S. Customs whereby
infringing imports can be blocked before the imports uncontrollably pour out to
the north, to the south, to the east and to the west.
The
registration application process is not as easy as it looks. The preparation of an
accurate application form can be tricky -- so few lines but so many terms that
must be truly understood. A "bounced" or "fatally flawed" application can
cost the copyright claimant not merely time but critical rights. (And I
have seen more than a few of such situations.) An experienced IP attorney
can save you more than frustration and time you would otherwise spend on the
application.
For continuing
multiple registrations, your time and money might be better spent having an
experienced IP attorney review the circumstances and from that review prepare a
template for a do-it-yourself registration program. Warning -- no
extrapolation should be permitted, because you may well be extrapolating into
fatal error.
questions, inquiries
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contact the firm
(all contact modes) or call 312.419.8055
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