Preregistration
General Preregistration
What is preregistration?
What works can be preregistered?
Preregistration is a new procedure in the Copyright Office for certain classes
of works that the Register of Copyrights has determined have a history of
pre-release infringement. Preregistration serves as a place-holder for limited
purposes, mainly where a copyright owner needs to sue for infringement while
a work is still being prepared for commercial release. Preregistration is
not a substitute for registration, and its use is only appropriate in certain
circumstances.
A work submitted for preregistration must meet three
conditions:
- the work must be unpublished;
- the work must
be in the process of being prepared for commercial
distribution in either
physical or digital format, e.g., film copies, CDs, computer programs to
be sold online, and the applicant must have a reasonable expectation of
this commercial distribution
- the work must fall within
the following classes of works determined by the Register of Copyrights to have had a history
of infringement prior to authorized commercial distribution. The works
determined to be eligible under this requirement are:
- motion
pictures
- sound recordings
- musical compositions
- literary
works being prepared for publication in book form
- computer programs
(which may include videogames)
- advertising or marketing photographs
What
classes of works are eligible for preregistration?
- Motion pictures
- Sound recordings
- Musical
compositions
- Literary works being prepared for publication in book
form
- Computer programs (which may include videogames)
- Advertising
or marketing photographs
Is preregistration a substitute for registration?
No. Preregistration is
not a form of registration but is simply an indication of an intent to register
a work once the work has been completed and/or published. When the work has
been completed, it may be registered as an unpublished work, and when it
has been published, it may be registered as a published work.
Preregistration
of a work offers certain advantages to a copyright owner pursuant to 17 U.S.C.
408(f), 411 and 412. However, preregistration of a work does not constitute
prima facie evidence of the validity of the copyright or of the facts stated
in the application for preregistration or in the preregistration record.
The fact that a work has been preregistered does not create any presumption
that the Copyright Office will register the work upon submission of an application
for registration.
A person who has preregistered a work must register the
work within one month after the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement
and no later than three months after first publication. If full registration
is not made within the prescribed time period, a court must dismiss an action
for copyright infringement that occurred before or within the first two months
after first publication.
Will I need to make a regular registration after my work is completed?
Preregistration
is not a form of registration but is simply an indication of an intent to
register a work once the work has been completed and/or published. The law
requires that if you have preregistered a work, you are required to register
the work within one month after the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement
and no later than three months after first publication.
If full registration
is not made within the prescribed time period, a court must dismiss an action
for copyright infringement that occurred before or within the first two months
after first publication.
See U.S.C. 17 408(f) and 411, as amended; also 37 C.F.R. 202.16,
as added.
When should I register my work if I have already preregistered it?
A person
who has preregistered a work is required, in order to preserve the legal
benefits of preregistration, to register the work within one month after
the copyright owner becomes aware of infringement and no later than three
months after first publication. If full registration is not made within the
prescribed time period, a court must dismiss an action for copyright infringement
that occurred before or within the first two months after first publication.
See U.S.C. 17 408(f) and
411, as amended; also 37 C.F.R. 202.16, as added.
How do I preregister?
You must apply online; no paper application form is
available. Only an application and fee are required; a copy or phonorecord
of the work itself, or any finished part thereof, should not be submitted.
Instead, the applicant must give as full a description of the work as possible
in the online application.
What is the effective date of my preregistration?
The effective date is
the day on which the completed application and fee for an eligible work have
been received in the Copyright Office.
Preregistration Application and Notification
How
do I complete a preregistration application?
The preregistration application
is only available online. We recommend that you read the detailed information
by clicking here, including the
screen-by-screen instructions, before beginning your online application.
Much of this information is also provided on the individual application screens.
To begin the preregistration
process, go to the Preregister Your Work page and
click on the Start the Preregistration Process button at the bottom of the
page.
You ask for
a description in the preregistration application. What should it include?
Your description should be sufficient to reasonably identify
the work but should consist of no more than 2,000 characters (approximately
330 words). It need not be detailed and need not include confidential information.
This description will be made part of the online public record. (See
specific help about the description).
Will I receive
a certificate for my preregistration?
No. When the Copyright
Office completes your preregistration, we will send you an official notification
email containing the information from your application, and the preregistration
number and date. This same information will also appear in the Copyright
Office permanent online catalog record of the preregistration. A certified
copy of the official notification may be obtained from the Certifications
and Documents Section of the Copyright Office.
Preregistration Payment
What is the fee for preregistration?
$100 nonrefundable filing fee per application. NOTE: The
filing fee will not be refunded whether or not the preregistration is ultimately
made.
What methods of payment
are accepted for preregistration?
You may pay the nonrefundable
filing fee for your submission(s) with a credit card, by ACH, or
by debiting your existing Copyright Office Deposit
Account.
What does ACH (payment) mean?
ACH is an acronym for The Automated Clearing
House Network. If you choose this option of payment, you may have money transferred
electronically from your personal or corporate bank account to make your
payment to the Copyright Office. If you choose this method, you will need
your bank’s routing number and your bank account number. These usually
appear on your check; the routing number is sometimes the one appearing at
the bottom left on your check, with your check account number appearing to
the right of the routing number. You may give a check number on the online
payment screen, but it is not required.
Password
Do I receive a password from the Copyright Office to log into the eCO website
to preregister my work? Or do I create my own password?
The Copyright Office
doesn’t issue you a password unless you forget one you have already
established when you create your New User profile. (In that case, you are
issued a temporary password, which you should change to your own password
immediately.)
What are the password requirements that I should
follow when I create my password?
A password should consist of
- a
minimum of 8 characters
- at least two alphabetic characters
- at
least 1 numeric and 1 special character (e.g., @ * &)
- no consecutive
repeated characters
It may NOT include
- your user name or any part
thereof
- the names of a spouse, children, pets, or one’s own
name
- regional sports teams or players
- any office symbols
- your
social security number or any subset of your social security number that
is more than a single number
- words that can be found in any dictionary,
whether English language or any language
How do I change my password?
- Select
My Profile from the top menu bar.
- Select User Profile by clicking on the
link. Click on the Change Password button that appears at the top of the
User Profile.
- Enter your current password in the designated field, then
enter your new password. You will need to give the new password again so
that if you have made a typographical error, the computer system will find
the error and ask you to re-enter the password in the two fields again.
- Click Save to save your new password.
What do I do if I forgot
my password?
- Click on the “Forgot Your Password?” link on
the login page.
- Enter the information and click the Submit button.
- The screen will refresh and give you your new password.
- Log into eCO
with the new password you have been given.
- Change your password immediately
to one that only you know and which follows the password requirements found
in the answer to the FAQ question “What are the password
requirements
that I should follow when I create my password?”. (See also “How
do I change my password?”)
Note: The Copyright Office offers introductory answers to frequently asked questions about
copyright, registration, and services of the Office. Links throughout the answers will guide
you to further information on our website or from other sources. For any other questions, please visit
our Contact Us page. |
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