Why Should I Register my Work with the Copyright Office?
A very common dilemma artists and authors run into is whether they should spend the money to register their work with the US Copyright Office. Intellectual Property Attorneys are frequently asked the question: “Why should I register my work with the Copyright Office if the moment it is created it already has copyright protection?” The simple answer to this question is money.
Think of copyright registration like health insurance, only much more affordable. In general, you hope you never have to use it, but when do you are glad you had it. If no one ever infringes on your work, then it doesn’t matter if you registered it. But, if your work is infringed, then you are going to wish you had registered it.
So, what does paying for registration give you? Registering a copyright with the Copyright Office provides a public record of the actual work, making it known to the public that you created it. More importantly though, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for copyright infringement of your work, then you are required to have your mark registered prior to filing a lawsuit.1 But if you only have to register your work to file a lawsuit, then why wouldn’t you wait until someone infringes on your work before you register your mark rather than spend the money early on to register your work? The simple answer is the same as it was above, money.
Copyright registration allows you to seek statutory damages and attorney’s fees in court should someone steal your work and claim it as their own. It should be understood that actual damages can be award with or without copyright registration, but registration is required for statutory damages.2 Actual damages are limited to the amount the author can prove he suffered as a result of the infringement and the amount the infringer made by unlawfully using the work.3 Statutory damages on the other hand are not limited to the lost profit of the author or the gained profit of the infringer, rather they are determined by a jury.4 If a work is registered and the author can show willful infringement, then the author could be entitled to up to $150,000 per infringement, whereas if the work is unregistered then the author could be entitled to only $300.5 Additionally, if registration of your work occurs within five years of publication, courts consider this prima facie evidence of authorship in an infringement lawsuit, which means you do not have to spend the time or attorney’s fees proving you authored your work.6
So, by registering your work early, and not waiting until someone infringes, it could save you money in attorney’s fees and earn you more damages in a successful lawsuit.
In addition, the cost of registering a copyright is relatively inexpensive. Registering a single work with the Copyright Office currently costs between $35 – $55 in filing fees and is a one-time fee that secures a copyright registration on the work submitted, exactly as it is submitted.7 As discussed in our previous article, copyright protections last for the life of the author plus 70 years.8
However, completing a copyright application correctly can be confusing and if done incorrectly can result in more paperwork and additional fees to correct the errors and if not corrected, may result in the copyright being worthless. Hence, we recommend you seek legal counsel to ensure that your copyright application is filed correctly and provides you the protection you need. ARC IP Law has many years of experience working with the Copyright Office and has successfully registered numerous copyrights.
Danna Cotman is the founder and lead Intellectual Property Attorney at ARC IP Law. Ms. Cotman successfully represents many artists in their copyright, licensing and other business needs.