How Form 5495 Copyright 2017-2024

You’re creating your masterpiece, but should you register the copyright? And if so, how does the process work? The United States Copyright Office registers over half a million copyright claims each year. Under current copyright law, you do not need to register your work to receive copyright protection in the United States. Instead, copyright protection is automatic as soon as an eligible work is created in a fixed and tangible form. But registration gives you several important benefits. First, to enforce your copyright in a U.S work in court you will need either a registration certificate or a letter of refusal from the Copyright Office. Second, registration can make it easier for you to prove your legal case. If you register your work before you publish it, or within five years after first publication, the facts on the certificate are presumed to be correct. As a result, during a lawsuit, the defendant, or person accused of infringement, carries the burden to prove that particular facts on the certificate are inaccurate. Third, if you register your work before someone infringes your rights, or within three months of first publishing the work, you can ask a court to have the infringer pay your attorney's fees. You’ll also be able to ask for statutory damages instead of actual damages, which can be difficult to prove in copyright cases. Finally, after registering your work, you can ask U.S. Customs and Border Protection to seize unauthorized imports of infringing copies. Registration also benefits the copyright system and the general public. It creates a public record of claims to ownership and authorship, which can help people contact a copyright owner to seek permission to use a work. So, now that you know how important it is to register your copyright, how do you do it? To...