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The Copyright Process
- Notice: Regardless whether the copyright has been registered or not, it is important to put a proper copyright notice on all copies of the work. This notifies the public that the author is claiming proprietary rights in his work. A proper copyright notice contains three parts: the © symbol or the word "Copyright" or an abbreviation thereof, the year of first publication of the work, and the name of the author of the work.
- Term: The copyright begins when the original work is created. The current term for copyrights owned by an individual is the life of the author, plus 70 additional years. Copyrights owned by corporations have different terms.
- Copyright Application: In order to have maximum protection for a copyrighted work, the copyright must be registered with the Library of Congress. Copyrights are registered by completing the correct copyright application form and submitting the completed form, together with copies of the work and the required filing fee, to the Library of Congress. Registration can occur at any time during the life of the copyright although additional benefits are obtained by early filing.
- Work for Hire: The general rule for copyrights is that the author or creator of the work is the owner of the copyright from the moment the work is created. However, an exception to this rule is a work-for-hire situation. Under the work -for-hire situation, the employer is the owner of the copyright from the moment the work is created. There are two situations in which the work-for-hire situation occurs:
- an employee is hired by a company to create a particular work and this work is done on company time and as part of the employee's job, or
- an independent contractor is hired to perform a specific task and has signed a work-for-hire agreement with the person or company for whom he is doing the work. That work-for-hire agreement specifically spells out that the copyright in any materials created by the independent contractor will be owned by the person or company employing the contractor.
- Infringement: Although copyrights can be registered at any time during the life of the copyright, the copyright must be registered before the owner can sue for copyright infringement in federal court. Also, if the copyright is registered within three months after publication or at least prior to infringement, the copyright owner is eligible to receive statutory damages and attorney fees in an infringement suit. Three things must be present to prove copyright infringement;
- ownership of the copyright by the person claiming infringement,
- access by the infringer to the work, and
- substantial similarity of the copy to the original work.
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