Copyright, To File or Not to File?

Copyright law is one of those areas where knowing a little about it can hurt you.  Some people who know a little about copyright law believe that you don't have to file a formal copyright application in order to own a copyright in their creation.  They are right, but that's not the entire story. 

Under current copyright law, if you just create something, you own a copyright in that thing, whether it is a statue, a book, a poem, a photograph, a piece of furniture, or a painting.  To keep someone from copying you, you just have to file for a copyright and sue them for copyright infringement, assuming a cease and desist letter doesn't work.  If you can prove you created it first, and they copied it, you can get in injunction and make them stop copying it.  That is a bit of a hollow victory after spending tens of thousands on a lawsuit, and it means that you will only enforce your copyright if it is a very important creation, like your company's flagship product.

However, if you had filed for copyright within 90 days of publication of your creation, or before it was copied, you could stand to win an injunction, attorney fees, and the damages specified in the statute, which is so many dollars per copy that has been made.  What that possible outcome adds up to is a huge hammer held over the head of the copier.  If he loses he will lose big time, and you will be made whole.  He will go to his copyright attorney and learn that he will lose big time if he gets sued, and he will come crawling to you with hat in hand and offer some kind of reasonable settlement, including not copying your creation.  That filing has given you tremendous leverage, and you can enforce your copyright without the lawsuit.

Copyright is so easy to file that you can do it yourself easily for the $30 filing fee.  The enforcement potential is huge, if you have taken the precaution of filing for copyright before you were infringed.  So file for copyright on any original creation, such as web sites, greeting cards, books, articles, drawings, photos, furniture designs, software, clothing styles, videos, animations, and anything that is an original creation.  Go to the U.S. Copyright Office for the forms to fill out for filing, and call me when your copyright gets infringed.  "Oh yeah, baby!" as Austin Powers would say.

Comments

[Mike Brown]

One correction - the filing fee for copyrights is $30, not $35.