How to Determine Who Owns a Copyright

Copyright has protection in the United States Constitution, under title 17 of the United States Code. It protects original published and unpublished works from infringement. It is a good idea to determine who owns copyright so you can request permission before you copy any written or recorded material for any reason. Read on to learn how to determine who owns a copyright.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Examine the work in question. The most obvious way to tell is look for the copyright symbol (the letter c or p in a circle) or the word "Copyright," accompanied by the year of publication and name of the owner. Copyright is automatically established when the work is on a fixed copy or recorded. Registering it with the Copyright Office is not necessary for copyright protection.
2. Establish which works have protection. Copyright laws protect original works categorized as literary, musical, drama, music, choreography, pictures, graphics, sculptures, movies, sound and architecture. This covers a broad range of works, so it's likely that anything printed, recorded or published has protection.
3. Search the Copyright Office catalogs yourself. The Copyright Office files are open to the public and are located in the Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC. The Copyright Public Information Office phone number is [phone]. Someone will be available to assist you in learning the correct procedure to find the information you need. Some records are not available for public search and require a fee to have someone search them for you.
4. Request that the Copyright Office conduct a search for you. When you are doing your own search, they will assist you, but if you want them to conduct the search themselves, there is a fee for their service. Don't expect immediate results with this type of search, because they don't do it while you wait. After you submit a request, a search begins on a first-come, first-served basis.
5. Try to contact the owner of a copyright yourself. You may be able to contact an author through the Internet or mail and request permission to use his or her work.
6. Keep in mind that even if your search doesn't show an owner, it doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't a copyright. The Copyright Office has addressed the problem of work whose authors were impossible to discover with the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it continues to be an ongoing issue.

Tips & Warnings

• When deciding the copyright status, an inconclusive search may require consultation with a copyright attorney.