A copyright helps protect your original creations and gives only you the right to reproduce, publish or profit from them. Copyright registration provides a public record of the copyright claim, and helps you protect literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works from infringement or distribution by others. We make it easy to complete your copyright application by handling all of the necessary paperwork on your behalf.
A copyright is defined as a form of intellectual property protection for original works of authorship. At its most general, copyright is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. These works may be published, but they may also receive protection if they are unpublished. Copyright law states that the original creative expression, published or not, is still considered to be the work of its author - and if you are the creator of this work, then you are its author. However, keep in mind that not every form of creativity may have a copyright. You cannot copyright facts, ideas, or systems, for instance.
The main purpose of a copyright is to protect "original works of authorship". By its most general definition, copyright is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. Copyrights can help you protect:
By registering your copyright, you create a public record of your work and your copyright claim. If anyone infringes on your copyright, you may sue for copyright infringement, and be able to recover damages for infringement.
Not every kind of intellectual property can be protected by a copyright. For some kinds of expressions, you may need to file a trademark instead. Some examples include:
What is the difference between a trademark and a copyright?
Because copyrights are protected from the time the work is created and fixed in a tangible medium, you are entitled to use the © symbol from the time the work is fixed. However, the work is afforded greater protection once it is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.
The duration of copyright protection recently changed as a result of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. The easiest rule to state is that copyrights have expired on all United States works registered or published prior to 1923. As a result, all such works have entered into the public domain.
After 1923, it is more complicated to determine when a copyright will expire. Like the old provisions, the duration of copyright protection under these new provisions depends upon when the work was created and first published.
Works Originally created on or after January 1, 1978: This is governed by statutory section 17 USC 302. According to this section, a work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978 is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional 70 years after the author's death.
In the case of "a joint work" prepared by two or more authors that was not a "work made for hire," the term lasts for 70 years after the last surviving author's death. For works made for hire, and for anonymous and pseudonymous works (unless the author's identity is revealed in Copyright Office records), the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.