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Timely Registration is Critical to Copyright Protection

By Stephanie Robinson

Protecting copyrighted materials should be a core concern among people and businesses that develop original creative works, regardless of whether those works are published or unpublished. Timely registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is critical to protecting a copyright and to being able to obtain the full measure of legal remedies against infringers. The requirements for registering copyrightable material, such as company brochures, advertisements, software, or other original works, are set forth in Chapter 4 of the U.S. Copyright Act. After those materials are created, the copyright applicant generally must submit an application for registration, a sample deposit of the work, and the appropriate fee to the Copyright Office to begin the registration process. Chapter 4 of the Copyright Act also provides that failure to take the steps necessary to obtain the registration may result in potential infringement actions being dismissed. In addition, even if the copyright in a work has been registered prior to filing suit, it is important to keep in mind that Chapter 4 further requires that a copyright be registered within 3 months after the initial publication date in order for the owner to be able to obtain statutory damages in litigation under the Copyright Act. Therefore, seeking an expedited registration for an infringed work may allow the plaintiff into court, but if the copyright registration date is more than 3 months after the date the subject work was published, that plaintiff will be deprived of the statutory damages remedy and forced to spend additional resources in an effort to prove actual damages, which, in many cases, may be negligible. All owners should register their copyrights with the U.S. Copyright Office within the timeline provided under the Copyright Act in order to help safeguard the ability to effectively enforce those copyrights.

Full post as published by Business and Technology Law on May 24, 2010 (boomark / email).