Copyright Infringement
Advantages of Copyright - Step 2
Why register a copyright?
A work does not have to be registered with the Copyright Office to be copyrighted. However, registration has benefits that are far greater than the work and expense in filing the registration.
- In the United States, the work's creator cannot sue for copyright infringement of works created in the U.S. unless the works are registered with the Copyright Office. If a lawsuit happens and the creator needs to register in a hurry, doing so will cost more money
- When a work is registered with the Copyright Office, a public record is made of the claim. With the public record, the person who registers is legally presumed to have the copyright on the work and anyone challenging that will have to prove otherwise. Without that public record, the burden of proof shifts and the author or creator has to prove that she or he owns the copyrighted work.
- If the author or creator registers the work with the Copyright Office within three months after publication or before someone infringes on the work, the author or creator can ask for statutory damages and attorneys fees if the matter goes to court, in addition to any other damages from the use of the work. The author or creator may want statutory damages when he or she can't prove actual damages (how much the infringement actually cost them) or when the damages are relatively small.
- The Certificate of Registration is prima facie evidence that the work is original and owned by the person who registered it. This evidence is important in getting a court injunction to stop another person from producing, reproducing or distributing material that infringes on the creator's rights. The author must register with the Copyright Office within five years from the date of publication to protect this right.
- Registration could save the author or creator the expense of having to go to court. When someone challenges the copyright, the fact that it's registered creates leverage to give the one who registered more bargaining power. When that happens, infringement issues may be settled out of court, saving everyone time and money.
- A registered copyright lets the author or creator send a "cease and desist" letter to the person infringing on that copyright. The owner of the copyright knows that he or she can file a lawsuit and that the copyright laws lean in his or her favor. As in everything else in life, knowledge is power.
The author or owner of the work can also file the copyright with the U.S. Customs Service when someone else tries to import, from outside the United States, material that infringes on the copyright.
Copyright registration may be made at any time within the life of the copyright.
Some authors or creators of copyrightable work complain that they don't have the time or money to file for a registered copyright, despite the time, money and energy that often went into producing the work in the first place. Failing to register for a copyright will cost them more money if their work is "stolen" and may prevent them from seeking certain legal avenues to protect themselves in the future.
Can anyone use copyrighted material?
The answer is yes. Under the Fair Use laws, certain individuals may use copyrighted material for certain things without asking permission or paying the owner of the copyright.
"Fair Use" is one of those ideas that grew out of the court system and is sometimes hard to understand and even harder to enforce. It is currently part of copyright law. Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107 of the U.S. Code, states that "fair use" of copyrighted material is permitted "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research without infringing on copyright."
According to the code, "Fair Use" is determined, in part, as follows:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported."
((Go To Step 3: Applying for a Copyright))
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