How to Register a Copyright for an IT Company

Introduction

If you work in the IT industry, it’s important to protect your work from theft and misuse. One way you can do this is by registering a copyright for your computer coding and software applications with the U.S. Copyright Office online or through mail. The process requires a lot of documentation and detailed information about your employment history, so be prepared to do some legwork ahead of time to make sure you can meet all requirements before filing for protection.

Find Out if Your Work Qualifies for Copyright Protection

Copyright is a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic and musical works, such as poetry, novels, movies and computer software. This protection is available for both published and unpublished works. (There is no such thing as an “unpublished copyright.”). You can establish copyright in your work by following these simple steps:

• Write something down (or use your voice). If you’re creating something new—a website design, a software program or even a recipe—you’ll need something tangible to show that it’s yours.
• Save your work in an appropriate file format with an appropriate file name. Be sure not only to save each version of the work but also label it with something like “draft 1” or “final draft” so you know which is which when it comes time for registration purposes later on down the road.

Register With the U.S. Copyright Office Online or Through Mail

• Registering a copyright through the U.S. Copyright Office is an important step in creating your IT company’s brand.
• The U.S. Copyright Office website has instructions for how to register online or by mail, including what you will need to submit with either option and how much it costs.
• You should register online rather than by mail whenever possible because it is faster and cheaper (it’s free).

Pay Any Fees Required

In order to register your copyright for an IT company, you must follow the instructions for submitting your registration application and pay any fees required.

Pay the fee. You will be required to pay a fee before you can submit your registration application. The amount of this fee varies depending the type of work being protected by copyright. Fees are paid through PayPal or via direct debit from a bank account (if applicable).

Create a Detailed Log of Your Works to Prove Ownership

As a company, you need to track the work that was done and by whom. For example, if your company has 10 employees who do all of the design, some may be responsible for the layout, others responsible for graphics and others responsible for coding. This will help determine ownership of specific pieces of work when it comes time to create a copyright registration application.

The best way to track this information is with a detailed log that includes:

• The project name/title
• Client name/name of organization/parties creating or asking for content (if applicable)
• Date started and finished
• Who did what on each project

It’s important to keep a complete list of all computer coding and software applications you produced while employed by an IT company, no matter how small they may be.

Keeping a log of all work created during your employment is important to proving your ownership of the copyrighted material. It’s also essential for tracking which IT company has rights to use and sell your work.

To create a complete record, start by listing all computer coding or software applications you produced while employed by an IT company, no matter how small they may be. You’ll want to include:

• The name of the business or organization that hired you.
• Your job title at that time.
• A list of all computer coding/software applications produced during this period (include each program’s name, when it was developed, who else worked on it with you).

Protect your code against theft with the DMCA notice of copyright infringement you add to your website’s homepage.

A DMCA notice of copyright infringement is a tool that businesses can use to legally protect their software, websites and other intellectual property from theft. By adding this notice to your website’s homepage, you are informing users that the content on your site is protected under copyright law and that it should not be used without permission.

This notification must include certain information in order to comply with U.S. law:

• The name of the organization claiming ownership of the content (i.e. yourself).
• Your address (street address or PO box) where customer service inquiries should be sent.
• A valid phone number where customers can reach someone at your organization.

Takeaway

Registering a copyright for IT work requires a lot of documentation and detailed information about your employment history to prove you are the owner of the codes you created. You must prove that you have created all codes or software that are part of your project, so it’s important to keep detailed logs of your work, including what you did, who was assigned to assist with each task and when was completed by everyone involved.

There is also a lot more paperwork involved in registering copyrights than other types of copyrighted material because there is more information required from an employer when registering copyrights on behalf of employees who may not be able to provide this information themselves. For example, employers must include records about projects worked on by employees and how much time each employee spent working on different tasks related to those projects within their efforts towards obtaining copyright protection for them (e.g., software development).

Conclusion

If you want to protect your computer coding and software applications from theft, then you must register your copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office. You should also consider sending a DMCA notice of copyright infringement to your website’s homepage if someone else copies your work without permission.