| DISCLAIMER: The information and related materials presented herein is NOT LEGAL ADVICE but only general information. For further explanation of this disclaimer, click here. |
A copyright gives its owner the right to prevent others from copying the "form of expression" contained in an original work of authorship in tangible form. Such protected works include books, works of art, musical works, photographs, motion pictures, computer programs and other works and writings. Copyright arises upon creation of the work and can relate to unpublished works as well as published works.
Registration of a work with the Copyright Office provides the copyright owner with significant advantages, such as it provides a public record of the copyright claim and the availability of legal remedies in federal courts, should infringement occur. Also, if registration is not timely obtained, the rights can be greatly diminished, if not lost.
A work is automatically potentially protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life, plus an additional fifty years after the author's death. If the author is not a human person, for example, a corporation, the term is 75 years measured from the date of 1st publication.
The cost of our preparing and filing a copyright application typically is about $285.00, which includes the governmental filing fee of $30.00. This is the usual total cost, unless some unanticipated circumstance arises.
All costs and estimates given herein are intended for general information purposes only and are subject to change without prior notice. Costs and legal fees can vary substantially from case-to-case. However, cost estimates are available without charge and can only be relied on when they are given by an authorized representative of the firm to a particular client for a particular matter.