Creators of works actually have copyright interest as soon as that
work is created and reduced to a tangible form-- either notated or
recorded on a CD, on an MP3, or on a tape.
But the best way to protect your work is to file a copyright registration.
Once again, if you're in a country outside of the United States, you need
to check with your country's copyright laws to determine the best way to
protect your works.
Here in the United States, you can protect your works by filing a
copyright registration with the US Copyright Office.
When you file your copyright with the US Copyright Office, you acquire
greater remedies should someone infringe on your copyright.
What are those remedies?
Well first, you have the right to collect statutory damages.
In other words, in the judge's discretion, they can find the other
party liable for damages of $750--
up to $30,000--
per infringement.
You only have that if you have a US Copyright registration.
You also have the right to go to federal court.
Federal court here in the United States means that you can sue anyone
in any other state.
But you can only do that if you file in federal court.
You can also sue for loss of profits if you find that the infringement
caused your business to lose an extensive amount of money.
If you have a copyright registration and you sue someone for infringement
and win the case, the judge has the discretion to order the losing party
to pay the winning party's attorney's fees.
And that can be a very substantial amount.
So that's a great, great remedy to have, which you only have if you have
a US Copyright registration.
You also have the right to customs and federal marshal seizures.
In other words, if you know someone is infringing on your copyright--
for instance, if they're shipping in from out of the country recordings
that are infringing on your copyrights--
you can go to court and have the customs office seize those goods as
they cross the border.
So how do you register your copyrights with the US Copyright office?
Very important question.
Well there's really three--
three steps that you have to follow.
First, you have to file an application for registration of the copyright--
either SR or the PA type of copyright.
You can do that a couple of different ways.
One of the ways that the US Copyright office is really encouraging people to
pursue is the electronic filing of copyrights.
You can do that by going to ECO.
And ECO stands for Electronic Copyright Office.
And once you get to that site, and once you get to that link, you'll be
able to fill out a copyright registration form for either the
performing arts registration for the composition or the
sound recording copyright.
And as a matter of fact, you can register both the sound recording
copyright and a copyright for the underlying composition--
the performing arts copyrights--
but only if you own the rights to both the sound recording and the
compositions that you register.
So you can either file online or you can actually print out the forms and
mail them in.
If you print out the forms, you're going to have a separate PA form and a
separate sound recording copyright form.
But if you're on the ECO site, you're going to be able to register for both
if you need to.
The second step in the registration process is to pay the fee.
There is a fee for each copyright registration for a work that you file.
And here's where the copyright office is really trying to encourage people
to use the ECO, the Electronic Copyright Office.
Because to file a work on the Electronic Copyright Office site, it
only costs you $35.
If you send in a mail-in form for the sound recording or the PA
form, it costs $65.
And the difference in the price, I'm sure, is just a way for the copyright
office to encourage people to file online.
And the last requirement is to deposit the work.
You have to deposit the work with the copyright office.
You can do that either by sending an electronic copy-- an MP3--
or you can send the actual physical copies to the copyright office.
One question I hear often is-- can you file more than one song or more than
one sound recording on one copyright registration?
Very important question.
It can be very expensive if you're filing one song for each registration
at $35 or $65 each.
Could become very, very expensive.
Well yes, you can.
You can file more than one song or sound recording on one copyright
registration.
You can file a collection of works.
But that is going to be registered under the title of the work.
You know, I had a client a few years ago who was from my hometown of
Cleveland, Ohio.
And he had written a collection of songs--
a number of songs-- with a young artist who went on to become a
top-selling artist.
And the artist recorded one of his songs and the album went
to platinum, I believe.
And of course the songwriter came to me and he said, John, I know I
copyrighted this song and this artist is infringing on my work.
I said, Fine, find the copyright registration and we'll be
able to go to court.
Well it took him too long of a period.
He didn't come to me until after finding out about this song maybe a
year or so.
And there is a three-year statute of limitations for filing a copyright
infringement action from the time that you first learn about the
infringement.
So it was very close to the last day of the statute of limitations.
Statute of limitations basically means that after a certain period of time
you lose your rights to file for infringement of the action.
So he had to really scramble to find the copyright registration.
And he couldn't find it.
He said, I know I copyrighted those songs.
I knew I copyrighted the songs.
Anyway, unfortunately, he passed the statute of limitations.
And then maybe six months later he called me.
He said, John, I finally found the registration that it was on.
But I didn't file it on an individual copyright registration form.
I filed it under a collective work.
And he said his name and the artist's name.
And the title of the collection of works was "My Client, The Artist,
Songs, 1997." That was the title of the registration.
There were maybe 14 songs listed on the continuation pages of that.
And he had done that multiple times with multiple songs.
And so he had really lost track of which songs were registered under
which title in collective works.
So I clearly see the benefit of artists-- and even record companies
and songwriters that own sound recordings--
filing copyright registrations under collections.
But if you do that, you have to keep very, very good records of which songs
and which sound recordings are being filed under which title so that you
can easily locate it should someone infringe on your copyright.