How to Handle a Copyright Violation for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you know the value of your creations, whether they're musical, literary, artistic or some other type of creative endeavor. The possibility of those original creations being stolen or compromised and the potential loss of profits from that violation are good reasons to obtain official copyright registration, which legally protects your intellectual property and your business.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Understand Copyright Registration

1. Be aware of your basic rights. As soon as you create an artistic work, it is considered copyrighted whether you publish it or not.

2. Consider what a copyright can do for you. A copyright allows the owner to produce and sell copies of the original material as well as perform or display the work publicly.

3. Protect yourself beyond a "poor man's copyright," a process where you mail your material to yourself and keep the work in a sealed and dated envelope. This does not legally protect you in copyright infringement cases.

4. Protect yourself fully by registering for a copyright. The only way to legally protect your artistic creation is to officially copyright it through the United States Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress.

Obtain a Copyright

5. Ensure your ability to file a lawsuit for copyright infringement by registering your work with the United States Copyright Office.

6. Apply for a copyright by filling out an application, paying the appropriate fee and providing the United States Copyright Office with copies of the work you would like registered.

7. Expect to receive a certificate of copyright registration in 4 to 7 months, although your copyright is valid from the date the United States Copyright Office received your completed application.

Report a Copyright Violation

8. Enforce your copyrights diligently. The United States Copyright Office does not handle issues of copyright infringement nor do they investigate or report to you when someone violates your copyright.

9. Hire an attorney that specializes in intellectual property law to handle your suspected copyright infringement case.

10. Report issues of copyright violation by filing a civil lawsuit in a federal court. This is where most infringement cases are argued.

11. File criminal charges with a U.S Attorneys Office if you believe that the copyright infringement is deliberate and done for profit.

Tips & Warnings

• If you falsely report copyright infringement, you could be responsible for paying financial losses incurred during the legal process if the defendant files a countersuit.

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