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You are here: Home > Law > Copyrights > Do I Have To Register My Copyright?

Do I Have To Register My Copyright?

No, you don't have to register your copyright to have a copyright.

Copyright protection arises automatically as soon as an original "work of authorship" is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.

Registration with the Copyright Office is optional, but allows you to collect attorney's fees and statutory damages (a valuable right when actual damages are hard to prove) for any infringement that commences after the registration.

You will have to register your copyrighted work, however, before you can file an infringement law suit.

So why register my copyright?

For several reasons:

  • First, you can't even start a law suit until you have registered your copyright in your work.
  • Second, if someone copied from you before you registered your copyright, your remedies in court are more limited. You can still try to get a court order requiring them to stop copying. But if you want money damages, you have a more difficult path if your copyright wasn't registered beforehand. You can get your "actual damages" -- but it is often difficult to prove how many sales you would have had if the copying hadn't occurred.
    When someone copies from a work that has previously been registered with the copyright office, on the other hand, that person may have to pay up to $100,000 for each willful infringement, plus the copyright holder's attorney's fees. These "statutory damages" do not require proof of any actual losses, and they are not available if the copying took place before the copyright is registered.
  • And one final reason for registering a copyright is that registration may well deter someone from copying in the first place.
What are the requirements for registering a copyright?

The Copyright Act requires that all work meet a three-prong test in order to qualify for copyright protection and registration.

  • The work must be original. (It cannot be copied from another source.);
  • The work must consist of "expression," not just "ideas." ; and
  • The work must be fixed in a "tangible medium of expression . . . from which [it] can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."

Most written and multimedia materials satisfy these requirements, and you should keep this in mind in seeking to protect your presentations, videos, slides and publications.

How do I register a copyright?

Registering a copyright is relatively easy. The Copyright Office has forms readily available. There are different forms depending on what you are registering. Form VA is used for works of visual arts, such as designs. The registration fee is only $20, and a copy of the work to be copyrighted must be sent with the application.

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