Understanding the Benefits of Copyright Registration
Why to Register Your Copyright
A copyright is a way of protecting an author’s original works by law. In the United States, it is a form of protection for an author’s “original work of authorship.” An original work of authorship is a body of work that is created by a person, independent of previously written and published work and with some minimum amount of creativity. It is considered “fixed” and “tangible” when it is captured in a permanent medium such as an article, book, essay, speech, film, song, etc.
Benefits of Registering a Copyright
The following are some of the many different benefits to registering a copyright:
– When a copyright is registered, it establishes a public record of the copyright holder’s ownership.
– When a copyright is registered, if the copyright is infringed upon, the holder of the copyright has a right to sue in federal court.
– If a copyright is registered before or within five years of its publication, if needed, this helps to establish evidence in court concerning the validity of the copyright and the facts as they are stated in the copyright certificate.
– If a copyright registration is made within 3 months of the publication of the work that is being registered, or at any time prior to an infringement of their copyrighted work, the owner of the copyright is entitled to seek statutory damages and attorney’s fees in federal court. If a copyright is not registered, the copyright holder can only seek an award for actual damages and profits, which can be difficult to prove.
– When a copyright is registered, the owner is allowed to record the registration with U.S. Customs to protect against copycats, i.e. infringing copies, being imported into the U.S.
Protected Works
The following are examples of copyrightable works:
– Architectural works
– Choreographed works
– Computer programs
– Dramatic works, including accompanying music
– Literary works
– Maps
– Movies and other audiovisual works
– Musical works, including any accompanying words
– Pictorial, graphic and sculptural works and other kinds of visual arts
– Pantomimes
– Sound recordings, including musical, spoken or other sounds
– Technical drawings
Rights of a Copyright Owner
A copyright gives the owner of the copyright many different exclusive rights in regards to their copyrighted work. These include but are not limited to:
– The owner is allowed to reproduce their own work in copies or audio recordings.
– The owner is allowed to create other works that are based on their copyrighted work, as in are
derivatives of the original work
– The owner is allowed to distribute copies and audio recordings of their work to the public by
sale, rental, lease, loan, donation, trade, or other transfer of ownership.
– The owner is allowed to perform their work publicly or endorse others to do so
– The owner is allowed to display their work publicly.
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