How to Register a Copyright for an Internet Provider

Introduction

As a small business owner, you probably have a lot on your plate. Registering a copyright for your work is not only time consuming, it’s also not something that you may have time to take care of while operating your business. However, if you’ve ever had someone steal your intellectual property or ideas and profit off of them, then this article is for you. Read on to learn more about how to register your Internet Provider with the Copyright Office and what happens if you don’t do so.

How to Register Your Work with The U.S. Copyright Office

Registering your work with the U.S. Copyright Office is easy, but it’s crucial that you understand what you’re doing and where to start. To register a copyright, you must submit a completed application form and associated documentation to the U.S. Copyright Office in Washington, D.C., along with any applicable fees (currently $35 for online filing). Once submitted, your work is officially protected under federal law and can be enforced by law if someone steals or copies it without permission from you as its owner.

The first step towards registering your copyright is knowing which forms are required for submission depending on how much originality there is in what you’ve created versus how much common knowledge could reasonably be expected when someone else creates something similar independently later down the road.

For example: If all of your content comes from other people’s existing works but merely aggregates them together into one place without adding anything new whatsoever (e.g. an “article” written entirely out-of-house), then no registration should occur because there would be no originality involved in creating that particular product anyway.

Benefits of Registering Copyright

• You can sue for damages in court. If someone uses your work without your permission, you may be able to sue for copyright infringement and receive monetary damages.
• You are protected against plagiarism. In some cases, copying text from another person’s work without giving credit can be considered plagiarism—but only if the content has been registered with the Copyright Office first.
• Registering your copyright gives you proof that this is indeed your original work, which means the plagiarist cannot claim that their version of it was theirs all along (even if they copied it).
• You are protected against piracy and other forms of unauthorized use or distribution of your content by third parties such as publishers or distributors who may want to sell copies on their own site(s) without paying any royalties back into yours because they were never authorized in writing beforehand.

Problems if You Haven’t Registered Your Work with the Copyright Office

If you haven’t registered your work with the Copyright Office, there are several problems that can arise.

• You won’t have protection for your work. If someone copies and uses your work, they may not be liable for copyright infringement because you didn’t register it. To be protected under U.S. copyright law, a work must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression and be original enough to qualify as an original creation. Without registration with the U.S. Copyright Office, you will not have any legal recourse if someone else copies or distributes your creative works without authorization (ex: music videos on YouTube).
• You won’t receive exclusive rights to use your own creative content in certain ways—or even if another person does something else with it later on down the line. For example, if someone creates an advertisement using one of your articles without paying you first then they could sue you later on. You cannot do anything about it because , legally speaking, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so since you never had any rights in the first place.

Takeaway

You can protect your intellectual property from theft by registering a copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office is the government agency where you can file for copyright protection, and it’s easy to register your work there with their online system.

To begin, visit https://www.copyright.gov/eco/, which will take you directly to the Electronic Copyright Office (ECO), an online portal where you can file for a new registration or renew an existing one every 28 years (the life of a copyright).

If this is your first time using the ECO, fill out all relevant fields on their short form; otherwise, simply click “Re-Register” next to “Registration Number.” You’ll be asked how much time has passed since the last renewal was filed. This will determine if any additional fees are due before continuing with the process.

If everything looks good so far, click on “I Agree” below each section title at right until reaching Section 5: Payment Method & Invoice Information—this is where they want payment information like credit card details and contact info so they know who should get paid if funds come through successfully later down in Section 6: Credit Card Information & Contact Information page.

Once finished paying whatever amount due(s) according once again agreeing with terms agreed upon above at bottom left corner (which includes clicking “Accept”), proceed onto Section 6: Credit Card Information & Contact

Conclusion

You can protect your intellectual property from theft by registering a copyright.