Reasons to Register Your Work with The U.s. Copyright Office Even Though Copyright Protection is Automatic?

Copyright protects original authorship fixed in tangible form (17 USC sec. 102a). Registering your work in Copyright Office is basically a copyright protection insurance because copyright protection arises automatically at the moment the author fixes the work in a tangible form and there is no need for the author to do anything else. Copyright registration is not mandatory but it has important benefits. You do not have to register your copyright work but the copyright license helps a lot in future copyright disputes.

After the copyright registration the U.S. Copyright Office establishes a public record of your copyright with exact date and name of the author. This public record is visible by everyone and that can be used as a proof in future disputes. The license is recognized worldwide because of the Bern Convention and it is applicable in all of the counties which have signed it.

The cost for the registration is minimal compared to the protection it gives. Registrations made before or within 5 years of publication will “establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate”. If copyright registration is made within 3 months after the publication of the work the author may collect statutory damages and attorney’s fees for the infringement actions. Otherwise only actual damages can be collected. It is said in Copyright Act §407 that the owner of copyright in a published or unpublished work may at any time during the copyright register his work in the Copyright Office.

If you are professional creator of copyright works and you know in advance that it is highly possible to sue someone for copyright violation, it is highly recommended to obtain your registration right after you have created or published your work. Because to start the trail you have to register the work and it is better you to register it instead of the copyright thief.

If you have successfully registered your copyright work the only way for another party to successfully controvert your copyright:

1)      If they present proves that they had an existing copyright.

2)      If they present proves that you stole the copyrighted work from them.

3)      If they present proves that you are not the real author of the work.

Even if they present those proves it is not absolutely necessary that the court will rule in their favor. On the one hand the court will consider the veracity and the authenticity of those proves and on the other hand the court will give you a credit because of the registration, which makes the winning of the case much easier.