|
Copyright is a form of protection, provided
by the laws of the United States, to the authors
of "original works of authorship". Copyright protection
is available for both published and unpublished
works. While it is true that in the United States
it is not mandatory that you register your work
in order for it to be protected under the copyright
laws, it is necessary to have the copyright formally
registered with the United States Copyright Office
in order to successfully pursue litigation for
copyright infringement.
Registering a US copyright for software costs
as little as $35.00. However, if you wait until
you have pending litigation before you attempt
to register a copyright, you will be forced to
pay several hundreds of dollars for an expedited
copyright registration. Being pro-active, and
registering the software as it is released, will
save both time and money.
Registration of a copyright also allows you to
pursue actual damages when there is an infringement.
Without official copyright registration, you will
be unable to collect damages.
You can manually register a copyright online
at http://www.copyright.gov
. Software programs are classified as literary
works. You can then opt to submit documents digitally,
or you can mail the documents to the United States
Copyright Office.
The Copyright Office has a PDF circular available
that assists software developers in the process
of registering their software copyrights. The
document "Copyright Registration for Computer
Programs" can be found at: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ61.pdf
.
Related Articles:
Sample EULA
How to Price
Software
Sweetening the
Pot
|
Developer
101
Why You Should Copyright Your Software