When Should I Copyright My Work?

Many artists, writers, and other creative types operate under the assumption that a creative work becomes copyrighted upon completion. While this is true, the actual date that your work was created is difficult to prove, and so that is why registration of your creative work is necessarily in order to establish a legal presumption of your copyright in the work. Creative works need to be quickly registered with the U.S. Copyright Office in order to attach the legal protections that allow copyright holders to enforce their copyright protections against the infringement of their intellectual property rights by others.

The Dangers of Not Registering Your Copyright

Registration of your copyrighted work, and giving notification of that copyright registration to potential infringers, is what makes copyright law a useful and effective tool for enforcing copyright protection against potential and actual infringers. Registration of a creative work affords copyright holders protections under federal copyright law, which means that you will be able to sue when someone infringes your copyright and receive damages up to $150,000 for the wrong that was done to you. You may also be able to recover attorneys’ fees as well.

How Long Can You Wait To Get Copyright Registration?

When a person creates a creative work, they must register their work in order to obtain the legal protections that are of most use to the copyright holder. While you can register a work at any time after its creation, a copyright holder will gain the most benefit from their intellectual property rights in the work if they register the work in a timely manner after its creation. “Timely” means either before any copyright infringement beings, or within three months of a work’s publication date. You can only obtain statutory damages for copyright infringement going back to when the work was registered, so it is better to have your copyright protection in place sooner rather than later.

If you have questions or concerns regarding copyrights and or how to register your copyright, please do not hesitate to contact Parsons & Goltry online, or by calling 480-991-3435. Let us assist you throughout each step of your case.